Global Mindscape

Good news: Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush to be released early ...

2009-08-30T13:07:00.003+02:00

An Iraqi journalist imprisoned for throwing his shoes at former President George W. Bush will be released next month after his sentence was reduced for good behavior.

Muntadhar al-Zeidi's act of protest during Bush's visit to Iraq turned the 30-year-old reporter into a folk hero throughout the Arab world.

"Al-Zeidi's shoes were a suitable farewell for Bush's deeds in Iraq," Sunni lawmaker Dhafir al-Ani said in welcoming the early release. "Al-Zeidi's act expressed the real feelings of the Iraqi people [and most of the rest of the world]. His anger against Bush was the result of the suffering of his countrymen."

Cheney criticizes "political" CIA probe plan ...

2009-08-25T21:39:00.002+02:00

By Tabassum Zakaria; editing by Mohammad Zargham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney criticized President Barack Obama's ability to handle national security after the Justice Department appointed a special prosecutor to investigate CIA interrogation abuses.

Cheney, who has emerged as a vocal defender of Bush administration policies since leaving the White House, said the intelligence obtained from harsh interrogation techniques had saved lives.

"The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions," he said in a statement dated Monday.

Cheney took issue with the Obama administration's decisions this week to have a special prosecutor investigate CIA prisoner abuse cases and to have a new group handling terrorism interrogations report to the White House.

"President Obama's decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration's ability to be responsible for our nation's security," Cheney said.

Earlier this year, Cheney had asked the CIA to declassify two memos that he said showed the effectiveness of using harsh interrogation methods on terrorism suspects.

The CIA in May rejected that request, but on Monday released the documents, with classified portions blacked out.

"The activities of the CIA in carrying out the policies of the Bush Administration were directly responsible for defeating all efforts by al Qaeda to launch further mass casualty attacks against the United States," Cheney said.

Wikipedia testing new method to curb false info ...

2009-08-25T20:53:00.004+02:00

By ANDREW VANACORE, AP Business Writer

Wikipedia said it is testing a new method for curbing false information in its entries as the online encyclopedia seeks a balance between credibility and openness.

While anyone can still edit articles, the site is testing pages that require changes to be approved by an experienced Wikipedia editor before they show up. If the site's users respond well to the test run, the new restrictions will apply to all entries for living people.

The idea is to block the kind of high-profile vandalism that has marred the pages of some famous people.

Still, Wikipedia risks discouraging legitimate editing if restrictions on changes or additions become too burdensome, such that articles won't get better or keep up with events. That may be especially true on more obscure pages with fewer active volunteers to approve edits in a timely way.

Aware of the risks, Wikipedia has set the criteria for "experienced editor" status relatively low. Users who are registered for a few days can give changes the OK, said Jay Walsh, a spokesman for the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the site.

A more uniform system for filtering changes on Wikipedia represents something of a step back from the site's original philosophy, which called for harnessing the collective knowledge of volunteer editors without any major restrictions.

But it is not the first time Wikipedia has attached some strings.

The same flagging process, for example, has been imposed on all entries in the German-language Wikipedia for more than a year.

On the English site, too, high-profile pages that are likely to be defaced, such as Michael Jackson's, have been tightly restricted.

EU launches probe into 'exploding' iPhones and iPods ...

2009-08-19T22:46:00.003+02:00

Bruno Waterfield in Brussels and Henry Samuel in Paris for The Telegraph

European Union consumer safety watchdogs have launched an investigation into reports that Apple iPods and iPhones are "exploding" in the summer sunshine.

Officials have acted after a series of cases in Britain, France, Holland and Sweden in which Apple's digital music players and mobile phones have allegedly spontaneously combusted or exploded.

In the latest incident, Romain Kolega, a French teenager, was injured when his girlfriend's iPhone was said to have exploded into shards after beginning to "crackle and pop like a deep-fryer".

That report followed a British case earlier this month involving an iPod Touch music player belonging to Ellie Stanborough, an 11-year old Liverpool girl.

In July, a Dutch man, named only as Pieter C, claimed that he had left his iPhone in his car for 15 minutes only to return to find that it had caught fire and severely damaged the passenger seat of his vehicle.

An iPod has also been implicated in a Swedish fire this June when a stationary Saab was completely engulfed in flames, almost incinerating the owner's dog.

"We have asked Apple to share with us any information they might have because of press reports of problems relating to iPhones and iPods," said a European Commission official.

The Commission has sent out an alert on its Rapex product safety system requesting the EU's 27 member states for any details or further incidents involving iPods or iPhones.

Apple claims it has ruled out any widespread safety problem with the 200 million iPods and 26 million iPhones sold in Europe, but is carrying out a full investigation into the reported cases.

"Apple have come back to us and said that these are isolated incidents and they do not consider that there is a general problem," said the Commission official.

An Apple spokesman said: "We are aware of these reports and we are waiting to receive the units from the customers. Until we have the full details, we don't have anything further to add."

Mr Kolega, 18, claimed last week that he received a minor eye injury after he picked up his girlfriend's crackling iPhone.

"I felt something like a grain of sand in my eye. It must have been a shard of glass," he said.

In the earlier British case, Ken Stanborough threw his 11 year-old daughter's iPod out the back door of his house when it started hissing and overheating.

"Within 30 seconds there was a pop, a big puff of smoke and it went 10 feet in the air," he said.

Mr Stanborough has claimed that Apple offered a refund of the £162 music player on the condition that the family sign a confidentiality agreement.

In July it emerged that Apple had tried to block a freedom of information request on iPod "burn and fire-related incidences" by an American journalist for 800 pages of documents from the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.

In June, Apple recalled all first-generation iPod Nanos in South Korea following reports of exploding batteries.

Arab Emirates Holiday Advert 'Borrows Dorset Landmark' ...

2009-08-15T12:07:00.003+02:00

Sky News

An Arabian resort in the United Arab Emirates looks as if it has been caught borrowing a British landmark to help tempt tourists to its beaches.

Owners of Durdle Door in Dorset are bemused that a photograph of their Jurassic Coast beauty spot has turned up on a website advertising The Cove at Ras Al Khaimah.

They fear that guests may travel thousands of miles to the UAE only to find that the picturesque setting was actually on their doorstep in the UK.

The Cove Rotana Resort in Ras Al Khaimah boasts 600 metres of sandy beach overlooking the Arabian Gulf.

But the picture on the banner across its website looks uncannily like the shingle beach on the South Coast.

The English site is popular with tourists and a valuable marketing tool for the Weld family's Lulworth Estate which owns and manages the coastline between White Nothe and Warbarrow Bay.

Former Dorset residents living in Dubai spotted it on the website and accused the Cove of pillaging the Dorset coastline and passing it off as their own.

"We only heard about it yesterday, so we're still not quite sure what's going on," Claire Dutton from the Lulworth Estate told Sky News Online.

"Before then, we didn't know anything about it.

"The image has been used on postcards and people often come here and take pictures. In fact, Google came here the other day and to took pictures.

"But I don't think people realise that the landmark is actually on private grounds.

"We do have a licensing department, but obviously we won't pick up everything."

James Weld, Lulworth Estate general manager, said: "It is not unusual to see Durdle Door being used by businesses to promote their own services ... the UAE is taking this to extremes and we hope that those visiting The Cove are aware of the real location.

"We would hate for people to travel thousands of miles abroad only to find this stunning landmark is on their doorstep."

The hotel later said that the website was designed by an independent marketing company and was not their official website.

It is not the first time Durdle Door has moved off the Dorset map. It has also appeared in an article on Turkey, and for one on the US.

Guitar legend Les Paul dies at 94 ...

2009-08-13T19:01:00.002+02:00

AP - Thursday, August 13, 2009 (edited by Paul)

NEW YORK — Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.

According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.

He was hospitalized in February 2006 when he learned that he had won two Grammys for an album he released after his 90th birthday, "Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played."

"I feel like a condemned building with a new flagpole on it," he joked.

As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the "tracks" in the finished recording.

With Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962, he earned 36 gold records and 11 No. 1 pop hits, including "Vaya Con Dios," "How High the Moon," "Nola" and "Lover." Many of their songs used overdubbing techniques that Paul the inventor had helped develop.

"I could take my Mary and make her three, six, nine, 12, as many voices as I wished," he recalled. "This is quite an asset." The overdubbing technique was highly influential on later recording artists such as the Carpenters.

The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s, and then exploded with the advent of rock the 1950s.

"Suddenly, it was recognized that power was a very important part of music," Paul once said. "To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn't think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system."

A tinkerer and musician since childhood, he experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up in 1941 with what he called "The Log," a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings.

"I went into a nightclub and played it. Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut." He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a tradition guitar shape.

In 1952, Gibson Guitars began production on the Les Paul guitar.

Pete Townsend of The Who, Steve Howe of Yes, jazz great Al DiMeola and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page all made the Gibson Les Paul their trademark six-string.

Over the years, the Les Paul series has become one of the most widely used guitars in the music industry. In 2005, Christie's auction house sold a 1955 Gibson Les Paul for $45,600.

Strong Meteor Shower Expected Tonight ...

2009-08-11T18:02:00.003+02:00

Robert Roy Britt, Editorial Director, SPACE.com

The annual Perseid meteor shower is expected to put on a good show this week for those willing to get up in the wee hours of the morning and wait patiently for the shooting stars.

In North America, the best time to watch will be between midnight to 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 12, but late Tuesday night and also Wednesday night could prove fruitful, weather permitting.

The Perseids are always reliable, and sometimes rather spectacular. The only things that puts a damper on the August show are bad weather or bright moonlight. Unfortunately this week, as the Perseids reach their peak Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the moon will be high in the sky, outshining the fainter meteors.

Still, skywatchers around the globe will have a good chance of spotting the brighter meteors. Some already are enjoying the show.

Already underway

The Perseids are bits of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which has laid down several streams of debris, each in a slightly different location, over the centuries as it orbits the sun. Every August, Earth passes through these debris streams, which spread out over time.

"They are typically fast, bright and occasionally leave persistent trains," says Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Skywatching Columnist. "And every once in a while, a Perseid fireball will blaze forth, bright enough to be quite spectacular and more than capable to attract attention even in bright moonlight."

Low numbers of Perseids, including some dazzling fireballs, have already been reported as Earth began entering the stream in late July. Seasoned observers have counted up to 25 per hour already, or nearly one every two minutes.

Most meteors are no bigger than a pea. They vaporize as they enter Earth's atmosphere, creating brilliant streaks across the sky.

The Perseids appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus, which rises high in the sky around midnight and is nearly overhead by dawn. Like most meteor showers, the hours between midnight and daybreak are typically the best time to watch, because that's when the side of Earth you are on is rotating into the direction of Earth's travels through space, so meteors are "scooped up" by the atmosphere at higher rates, much like a car's windshield ends the lives of more bugs than does the rear bumper.

Astronomers expect up to 200 meteors per hour in short bursts of up to 15 minutes or so. But many of the fainter meteors will simply not be visible due to moonlight, and rates will go down even more for those in urban areas. More likely a typical observer under reasonably dark skies might hope to see a meteor every couple minutes when the bursts come, and fewer during lulls.

When to watch

The best time to watch is between midnight and dawn Wednesday. Forecasters say the best stretch could come between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. ET (1-2 a.m. PT), which would be after daybreak in Europe. Some Perseids might be visible late Tuesday night, and Wednesday night into Thursday morning could prove worthwhile, too.

Read full article here.

Greek woman sets fire to drunken Briton's genitals ...

2009-08-09T12:12:00.002+02:00

Telegraph Media Group

By Paul Anast in Athens - 6 Aug 2009

A 26-year old Greek woman has become an overnight national hero after setting fire to the genitals of a 23-year old drunken Briton who allegedly tried to sexually assault her in a crowded bar.

The unidentified woman from the fiercely proud island of Crete won herself even more praise by doing the right legal thing – turning herself over to police and the courts to be put on trial for what she claimed was her "right to self-defence".

She will face a magistrate on Friday to see if the case will go to court.

The Briton himself, whose name is expected to be released later, is currently in a private clinic in Heraklion, the capital of Crete island, being treated for second degree burns to his testicles and penis.

According to a police statement issued last night, the incident occurred at a club in the notorious coastal resort of Malia, which is dominated by young Britons seeking all-night revelry.

It alleged that the Briton took down his trousers and started waving his genitals at a number of girls. He then specifically "forcefully fondled" the 26-year old Greek woman, asking her to take hold of his genitals.

After asking him to stop harassing her, the police said, she poured the alcoholic drink Sabucco on his genitals (an Italian brand type of Greek ouzo or French Pernod drink).

This again allegedly failed to stop his advances, so the woman seized a lighter and set fire to the alcohol-drenched genitals, local press reports said.

The charges were levelled after reports claimed that the assailant's genitals suffered considerable damage, requiring that he remain in a private clinic in Malia.

Travel operator sources at Malia said his treatment is being covered by his travel insurance.

The name of the clinic is not being disclosed and is under discreet police guard, police sources said.

However, the magistrate and prosecutor also unanimously agreed to set the woman free pending trial, an indication that they accepted her argument that she "acted in justified self-defence".

A small crowd of bystanders outside the Heraklion hospital applauded and shouted "bravo, bravo", as she was rushed away under police escort.

Legal counsel for the woman said that the court may either issue an immediate verdict or postpone for a future date. This will depend on reported plans by the woman's lawyers to also take legal action against the Briton as soon as he recovers.

Authorities on the island still refuse to release the names of the Briton and the now nationally famous Greek woman on the grounds that they are bound by the Personal Data Protection law and the particular sensitivity of the case.

[In my opinion, she did the right thing.]

According to an EU report, one third of Europeans have never used the internet ...

2009-08-04T21:09:00.005+02:00

BBC (edited by Paul)

The study, which has been examining Europe's digital landscape over the last five years, also revealed that more than a quarter of Europeans have never used a PC.

More than one in three of the digital 'refuseniks' said they did not see the need for a connection, while nearly one quarter said they could not afford it.

People above the age of 65 and the unemployed were the least active online, it said.

However, the study also revealed that in 2008, 56% of Europeans had become regular internet users - up one third since 2004.

More than 80% of those people now have a high-speed internet connection, compared to one third in 2004. Most of these had download speeds greater than 2 megabits per second (Mbps), it showed.

Countries such as Latvia and Estonia lead the web 2.0 charge with higher proportions of their populations uploading home made digital content to web sites than in any of the other 25 states in the survey.

Young people across the European Union have led the charge on to the net.

Nearly 70% of people under the age of 24 use the internet every day, compared to the EU average of 43%.

But this same group is reluctant to pay to download or use online content, such as music or video, with 33% saying that they would not pay anything at all.

"These young people are intensive internet users and are also highly demanding consumers," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media.

"To release the economic potential of these 'digital natives', we must make access to digital content an easy and fair game."

Facebook criticised by Archbishop ...

2009-08-02T11:55:00.006+02:00

Many friends ... but do you really know them?
BBC (edited by Paul)

Social networking websites, texting and e-mails are undermining community life, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has warned.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols said MySpace and Facebook led young people to seek "transient" friendships, with quantity becoming more important than quality.

He said a key factor in suicide among young people was the trauma caused when such loose relationships collapsed.

"Friendship is not a commodity," he told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

He added: "Friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it's right".

Archbishop Nichols said that society was losing some of its ability to build communities through inter-personal communication - the result of excessive use of texts and e-mails rather than face-to-face meetings or telephone conversations.

Skills such as reading a person's mood and body language were in decline, and that exclusive use of electronic information had a "dehumanising" effect on community life.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace encouraged a form of communication that was not, in his words, "rounded", and would not, therefore, build rounded communities.

The Archbishop also warned of the danger of suicide among young people who threw themselves into a network of friendships that could easily collapse.

He said that young people were being encouraged to build up collections of friends as commodities, and were left desolate when these transient relationships broke down.

"Facebook and MySpace might contribute towards communities, but I'm wary about it," he told the newspaper.

"Among young people, often a key factor in their committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships.

"They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they're desolate.

"It's an all-or-nothing syndrome that you have to have in an attempt to shore up an identity; a collection of friends about whom you can talk and even boast."

[My opinion: I'm an atheist, but I agree with the Archbishop on this matter. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter lead people of all ages to seek transient friendships where 'quantity' is more important than 'quality'. This can't be a good thing.]

Spain closes Majorca after bomb attack ...

2009-08-01T11:53:00.003+02:00

ITN

Majorca is in shutdown after a bomb explosion killed two police officers outside a barracks.

The Civil Guard officers died when their booby-trapped car exploded in the town of Calvia.

Several others were injured in the blast.

Reports by local newspaper El Mundo suggest that another device has been found at the barracks.

It comes just a day after a bomb attack in the northern Spanish city of Burgos which injured at least 46 people.

Police have closed the borders of the island to stop the suspects from escaping. The airport has been closed, but planes already in the air will be allowed to land.

Holidaymakers face being stranded.

The attack has been blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA.

How not to park a car (LOL) ...

2009-07-31T21:08:00.002+02:00

UFOs 'Prefer Water' For Close Encounters ...

2009-07-29T14:34:00.002+02:00

Sky News 28 July 2009

Declassified files on the Russian Navy's encounters with UFOs have suggested the objects are big fans of water.

A number of incidents were reported at Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, including powerful lights and objects coming out from the water, Russia Today said.

In one case in 1982, military divers training at the lake said they spotted a group of humanoid creatures dressed in silver suits at a depth of 50 metres.

They tried to catch the visitors but three of the seven men died in the process, while four others were severely injured in the incident, according to the records.

On another occasion, a nuclear submarine on a combat mission in the Pacific Ocean detected six unknown objects.

The captain of the vessel ordered the crew to bring it to the surface after failing to shake off the pursuers.

The objects followed them up before flying away into the sky, the newly published files claimed.

Further mysterious events happened in the Bermuda Triangle area, including instruments on ships and submarines breaking down for no apparent reason.

Former navy officer Rear Admiral Yury Beketov said deliberate disruption from UFOs, which were detected "moving at incredible speed", could have been to blame.

He said: "It was like the objects defied the laws of physics. There's only one explanation: the creatures who built them far surpass us in development."

The records, which date back to Soviet times, were compiled by a special navy group tasked with collecting reports of unexplained incidents from submarines and military ships.

New Batman film in 2011...

2009-07-25T19:07:00.002+02:00

Actor Gary Oldman, who starred in the recent blockbuster Batman movies, let it slip on Friday that a new film about the crime-fighting superhero is set to start filming next year.

"We start filming the next 'Batman' next year, which means it won't come out for another two years," he said, before adding in a sly tone, "but you didn't hear that from me." [LOL]

First there were 'Blood Diamonds'; now there are also 'Blood Computers' ...

2009-07-25T12:55:00.006+02:00

An ant holding a microchip

ELIZABETH DIAS for TIME

When the film Blood Diamond with Leonardo DiCaprio came out in 2006, people were startled at the alleged origins of the precious stones from areas of bloody conflict and began asking whether the jewels on their fingers cost a human life. Will consumers soon find themselves asking similar questions about their cell phones and computers?

In a report released earlier this week, Global Witness claims that multinational companies are furthering a trade in minerals at the heart of the hi-tech industry that feeds the horrendous civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). (Global Witness is the same nongovernmental organization that helped expose the violence that plagues many of the sources of diamonds.) However, the accused companies, with varying degrees of hostility, deny any culpability, saying Global Witness oversimplifies a complex economic process in a chaotic geopolitial setting.

The provinces of North and South Kivu in the eastern DRC are filled with mines of cassiterite, wolframite, coltan and gold - minerals needed to manufacture everything from lightbulbs to laptops, from MP3 players to Playstations. Over the past 12 years of armed conflict in the region, control of these valuable natural resources has allegedly become a lucrative way for warring parties to purchase munitions and fund their fighting. The Global Witness report claims to have followed the supply chain of these minerals from warring parties to middlemen to international buyers.

Read the full article here

Huge telescope opens in Spain's Canary Islands ...

2009-07-25T12:44:00.003+02:00

CARLOS MORENO, Associated Press Writer (edited by Paul)

One of the world's most powerful telescopes opened its shutters for the first time on Friday to begin exploring faint light from distant parts of the universe. The Gran Telescopio Canarias, a 130 million euro ($185 million) telescope featuring a 34-foot (10.4-meter) reflecting mirror, sits on top of an extinct volcano. Its location above cloud cover takes advantage of the pristine skies in the Atlantic Ocean.

Planning for the telescope began in 1987 and has involved more than 1,000 people from 100 companies. It was inaugurated on Friday by King Juan Carlos.

The observatory is located at 2,400 meters (7,870 feet) above sea-level where prevailing winds keep the atmosphere stable and transparent, the Canary Islands Astrophysics Institute said.

The institute, which runs the telescope, said it will capture the birth of stars, study characteristics of black holes and decipher some of the chemical components of the Big Bang.

The telescope is composed of 36 separate mirrors that began slowly focusing in July 2007 to eventually act as a single large reflecting surface that directs light onto a central camera point.

Among those who have done research at La Palma is Brian May, lead guitarist of rock group Queen, who studied there for part of his doctorate in astrophysics at the institute.

May, who published "BANG! The Complete History of the Universe" with astronomers Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, composed a musical score for the telescope's inauguration.

Large reflecting telescopes began making major contributions to astronomical research when Edwin Hubble perfected the technique of capturing photographic exposures of space with the then-massive 200-inch mirror at Mount Palomar Observatory in north San Diego County, California in January 1949.

Germany: Horror As Homes Collapse Into Mine ...

2009-07-19T21:31:00.003+02:00

SKY NEWS

Three people are feared dead after two homes were swallowed up by a giant open cast mine.

The houses in Germany plummetted hundreds of feet into the mine after heavy rain caused a landslide.

Amazing pictures show remains of the homes at the bottom of the mine, part of which had been converted into a lake.

The alarm was raised early on Saturday at Nachterstedt, a town in central Germany, police said.

One house was completely swept away in the landslide while the other was torn in half.

The remaining part of the house was left perched on the edge of a precipice.

Both homes stood close to the edge of the former open-cast coal mine.

The three missing residents are a couple and a man, all believed to be in their 50s.

Around seven other homes, now just a few feet from the drop, had a narrow escape.

The area into which the homes fell contained no water.

The stretch of land which collapsed into the lake was around 350m long and 120m wide.

Giant squid terrorise Californian coast ...

2009-07-19T20:19:00.002+02:00

Associated Press

Jumbo flying squid have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego, California, spooking scuba divers and beachgoers after washing up dead on the beaches.

The carnivorous cephalopods, which weigh up to 45kg (100lb), came up from the depths last week, with swarms of them roughing up unsuspecting divers. Some reported tentacles enveloping their masks and yanking at their cameras and gear.

Stories of close encounters with the squid have chased many divers out of the water and created a whirlwind of excitement among those torn between their personal safety and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to swim with the deep-sea giants.

The so-called Humboldt squid, named after the current in the eastern Pacific, have been known to attack humans and are nicknamed "red devils" for their rust-red colouring and mean streak. Divers wanting to observe the creatures often bait the water, use a metal viewing cage or wear chainmail to avoid being lashed by the creature's tentacles.

The squid, which is most commonly found in deep water from California to the bottom of south America, hunts in schools of up to 1,200 individuals, can swim up to 15 mph and can skim over the water to escape predators.

"I wouldn't go into the water with them for the same reason I wouldn't walk into a pride of lions on the Serengeti," said Mike Bear, a local diver. "For all I know, I'm missing the experience of a lifetime."

The squid are too deep to bother swimmers and surfers, but many experienced divers say they are staying out of the surf until the sea creatures move on.

Roger Uzun, a veteran scuba diver and amateur underwater videographer, swam with a swarm of the creatures for about 20 minutes and said they appeared more curious than aggressive. The animals taste with their tentacles, he said, and seemed to be touching him and his wet suit to determine if he was edible.

A sad day: Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man, dies ...

2009-07-18T11:24:00.003+02:00

ITN

Henry Allingham, the oldest surviving serviceman from the First World War, has died at the age of 113.

Less than a month ago, Mr Allingham was declared the world's oldest man by Guinness World Records.

Mr Allingham celebrated his 113th birthday on June 6. His life spanned three centuries and six monarchs.

Hitler-salute garden gnomes cause trouble for artist ...

2009-07-17T10:01:00.003+02:00

German prosecutors have launched an enquiry into whether a garden gnome with its right arm raised in a Hitler salute in a Nuremberg art gallery is against the law.

Hitler salutes and Nazi symbols have been illegal in Germany since World War II, but some claim that the garden gnome is actually ridiculing the Third Reich.

The artist in question is Ottmar Hoerl, who has designed numerous exhibitions and projects in public spaces and has been president of the Academy for Fine Arts in Nuremberg since 2005.

NASA lost moon footage, but Hollywood restores it ...

2009-07-17T09:22:00.002+02:00

SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer [edited by Paul]

NASA was able to put a man on the moon but didn't have the sense to keep the original video of the live TV transmission.

In an embarrassing acknowledgment, the space agency said Thursday that it must have erased the Apollo 11 moon footage years ago so that it could reuse the videotape.

But now Hollywood is coming to the rescue.

The studio wizards who restored "Casablanca" are digitally sharpening and cleaning up the ghostly, grainy footage of the moon landing, making it even better than what TV viewers saw on July 20, 1969. They are doing it by working from four copies that NASA scrounged from around the world.

"There's nothing being created; there's nothing being manufactured," said NASA senior engineer Dick Nafzger, who is in charge of the project. "You can now see the detail that's coming out."

The first batch of restored footage was released just in time for the 40th anniversary of the "one giant leap for mankind," and some of the details seem new because of their sharpness. Originally, astronaut Neil Armstrong's face visor was too fuzzy to be seen clearly. The upgraded video of Earth's first moonwalker shows the visor and a reflection in it.

The $230,000 refurbishing effort is only three weeks into a months-long project, and only 40 percent of the work has been done. But it does show improvements in four snippets: Armstrong walking down the ladder; Buzz Aldrin following him; the two astronauts reading a plaque they left on the moon; and the planting of the flag on the lunar surface.

Nafzger said a huge search that began three years ago for the old moon tapes led to the "inescapable conclusion" that 45 tapes of Apollo 11 video were erased and reused. His report on that will come out in a few weeks.

The original videos beamed to Earth were stored on giant reels of tape that each contained 15 minutes of video, along with other data from the moon. In the 1970s and '80s, NASA had a shortage of the tapes, so it erased about 200,000 of them and reused them.

Nafzger, who was in charge of the live TV recordings back in the Apollo years, said they were mostly thought of as data tapes. It wasn't his job to preserve history, he said, just to make sure the footage worked. In retrospect, he said he wished NASA hadn't reused the tapes.

Historians were aghast.

"It's surprising to me that NASA didn't have the common sense to save perhaps the most important historical footage of the 20th century," said Rice University historian and author Douglas Brinkley. He noted that NASA saved all sorts of data and artifacts from Apollo 11, and it is "mind-boggling that the tapes just disappeared."

The remastered copies may look good, but "when dealing with historical film footage, you always want the original to study," Brinkley said.

Smithsonian Institution space curator Roger Launius, a former NASA chief historian, said the loss of the original video "doesn't surprise me that much."

"It was a mistake, no doubt about that," Launius said. "This is a problem inside the entire federal government. ... They don't think that preservation is all that important."

Launius said that federal warehouses where historical artifacts are saved are "kind of like the last scene of `Raiders of the Lost Ark.' It just goes away in this place with other big boxes."

The company that restored all the Indiana Jones movies, including "Raiders," is the one bailing out NASA.

Lowry Digital of Burbank, Calif., noted that "Casablanca" had a pixel count 10 times higher than the moon video, meaning that the Apollo 11 footage was fuzzier than a vintage movie and more of a challenge in one sense.

Of all the video the company has dealt with, "this is by far the lowest quality," said Lowry president Mike Inchalik.

Nafzger praised Lowry for restoring "crispness" to the Apollo video. Historian Launius wasn't as blown away.

"It's certainly a little better than the original," Launius said. "But it's not a lot better."

The Apollo 11 video remains in black and white. Inchalik said he would never consider colorizing it, as has been done to black-and-white classic films. And the moon is mostly gray anyway.

The restoration used four video sources: CBS News originals; kinescopes from the National Archives; a video from Australia that received the transmission of the original moon video; and camera shots of a TV monitor.

Both Nafzger and Inchalik acknowledged that digitally remastering the video could further encourage conspiracy theorists who believe NASA faked the entire moon landing on a Hollywood set. But they said they enhanced the video as conservatively as possible.

Besides, Inchalik said that if there had been a conspiracy to fake a moon landing, NASA surely would have created higher-quality film.

Back in 1969, nearly 40 percent of the picture quality was lost converting from one video format used on the moon — called slow scan — to something that could be played on TVs on Earth, Nafzger said.

NASA did not lose other Apollo missions' videos because they weren't stored on the type of tape that needed to be reused, Nafzger said.

As part of the moon landing's 40th anniversary, the space agency has been releasing archival material. NASA has a Web site with audio from private conversations in the lunar module and command capsule. The agency is also webcasting radio from Apollo 11 as if the mission were taking place today.

The video restoration project did not involve improving the sound. Inchalik said he listened to Armstrong's famous first words from the surface of the moon, trying to hear if he said "one small step for man" or "one small step for A man," but couldn't tell.

Through a letter read at a news conference on Thursday, Armstrong had the last word about the video from the moon: "I was just amazed that there was any picture at all."

Democrats seek probe of Bush anti-terror policies ...

2009-07-13T13:37:00.002+02:00

President Barack Obama has been reluctant to probe Bush-era torture and anti-terrorism policies, but his Democratic allies aren't likely to let the matters rest [and that's good news].

Read full article here

Man gored to death at Pamplona's running of the bulls ...

2009-07-10T13:25:00.004+02:00

ALVARO BARRIENTOS, Associated Press Writer

A charging bull gored a young Spanish man to death Friday at Pamplona's San Fermin festival, the first such fatality since 1995. Nine others were injured in a particularly dangerous and chaotic chapter of the running of the bulls.

Pamplona officials identified the man as Daniel Jimeno Romero, 27, from the Madrid suburbs of Alcala de Henares. He was on vacation with his parents and girlfriend.

The San Fermin festival Web site said Jimeno Romero was gored in the neck and lung during a run in which a rogue bull named Capuchino separated from the pack, which is among the worst things that can happen at Spain's most popular fiesta.

Isolated bulls are more likely to get disoriented and start charging at people.

Three other people were gored and six people suffered bumps, bruises and other lesser injuries, said Fernando Boneta, director of Virgen del Camino Hospital.

Among the injured was a 61-year-old American who was struck in the chest and had internal bleeding in his lungs. Doctors said he was in intensive care but that his condition was not considered life-threatening. The man was identified by his initials, E.P.S., but his full name was not released.

Also injured in the run was a 20-year-old from London and a 24-year-old Argentine. Another American, a 63-year-old identified by the initials K.L., injured an elbow.

The last fatal goring at the running of the bulls was that of 22-year-old American Matthew Tassio in 1995. [I - Paul - witnessed that event first-hand. I was standing only 2 meters from Matthew when he was gored.]

In 2003, a 63-year-old Spanish man, Fermin Etxeberri, was trampled in the head by a bull and died after spending months in a coma.

Friday's death raises to 15 the toll since record-keeping began in 1924.

Fatalities are relatively rare and when one occurs, it serves as a reminder that amid all the street parties and revelry associated with San Fermin, running with fighting bulls weighing 1,300 pounds (600 kilograms) or more on cobblestone streets packed with people is a life-risking exercise.

This run, the fourth of eight held at San Fermin, was by far the most perilous of this year's festival. The previous three runs were comparatively placid affairs, with no serious injuries.

The six bulls covering the half-mile (850-meter) course with six accompanying steers tend to mind their own business and keep running as long as they stay in a pack. A bull that gets separated is more likely to get frightened and aggressive, and that is what happened on Friday.

Capuchino, a brown, 1,130-pound (515-kilogram) specimen, fell early in the run and ended up on its own.

When it reached a stretch right outside the bullring that marks the end of the course, it started charging right and left, and even ran back the wrong way several times. Runners scurried for safety to wooden barriers along the route as the bull attacked. Herders waving sticks tried in vain to guide it into the ring, even yanking on the animal's tail to turn it around.

This went on for a minute and a half, which is a long time at San Fermin.

At one point the bull picked one man up with its horns and flipped him into the air, then kept going after him as he lay curled up on the ground, covering his face. He got up and ran away, and was apparently not seriously hurt.

"It was a light bull. Its charges were not particularly strong but it moved very fast from left to right," one of the herders, Humberto Miguel, told The Associated Press. "Of the whole pack, it was the one that gave us the most trouble."

The bulls used in Friday's run, from a ranch called Jandilla, have a reputation for being fierce at San Fermin. They hold the record for the most gorings in a single run — eight, one day in 2004.

The bulls used in the runs face matadors and almost certain death the same afternoon in the Pamplona bullring.

Miss Ellie wins title of World's Ugliest Pedigree Dog ...

2009-06-28T20:36:00.008+02:00

In the World's Ugliest Dog Competition at Sonoma-Marin Fair in California, a truly 'unique' looking creature beat off other hideous hounds to claim the crown.

Meet Miss Ellie :)

Is there life on Enceladus? ...

2009-06-27T22:04:00.002+02:00

Do underground oceans vent through the stripes on Saturn's moon, Enceladus? These stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon's interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole and creating Saturn's mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn.

Pictured above is a high resolution image of Enceladus taken during a close flyby. The unusual surface features are visible in false-color blue. Why Enceladus is active remains a mystery. The neighboring moon, Mimas, approximately the same size as Enceladus, appears to be quite dead. Most recently, an analysis of dust captured by Cassini found evidence for sodium, as expected in a deep salty ocean. If such an ocean does exist below the surface, it may well contain life.

Michael Jackson dies at 50 ...

2009-06-26T11:52:00.006+02:00

One blogger wrote that Michael "had it in him to make a comeback". Sadly, this was not to be.

Iran's top electoral body rules out vote annulment ...

2009-06-23T10:07:00.002+02:00

ALI AKBAR DAREINI and NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press

Iran's top electoral body, the Guardian Council, found "no major fraud" in the disputed June 12 election and ruled out annulling the the results, Iran's state TV Tuesday quoted a spokesman for the council as saying.

Opposition supporters, who allege systematic fraud, have demanded a new election and have staged near-daily protests challenging the claim that hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won re-election by a landslide.

With Tuesday's announcement, Iran's regime appeared to be closing another door to compromise. Iran's supreme leader had already praised Ahmadinejad as the winner and ordered post-election protesters off the streets. On Monday, the feared Revolutionary Guard threatened a crackdown if protests persist.

Such threats and the deaths of at least 17 people since the start of the protests have prompted growing concern by the international community about the fate of opposition supporters. In New York, U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon urged an "immediate stop to the arrests, threats and use of force," U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said at U.N. headquarters Monday.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, keeps a close eye on itself with a vast web of security cameras ...

2009-06-22T20:50:00.006+02:00

Bob Drogin - Los Angeles Times

A vast and growing web of security cameras monitors this city of 55,000 inhabitants, operated by a private group of self-appointed gatekeepers. There's been surprisingly little outcry.

This historic town, where America's founding fathers plotted during the Revolution and Milton Hershey later crafted his first chocolates, now boasts another distinction: It may become the nation's most closely watched small city.

Some 165 closed-circuit TV cameras will soon provide live, round-the-clock scrutiny of nearly every street, park and other public space used by the residents and the town's many tourists. That's more outdoor cameras than are used by many major cities, including San Francisco and Boston.

Unlike anywhere else, cash-strapped Lancaster outsourced its surveillance to a private non-profit group that hires civilians to tilt, pan and zoom the cameras - and to call police if they spot suspicious activity. No government agency is directly involved.

Perhaps most surprising, the near-saturation surveillance of a community that saw four murders last year has sparked little public debate about whether the benefits for law enforcement outweigh the loss of privacy.

"Years ago, there's no way we could do this," said Keith Sadler, Lancaster's police chief. "It brings to mind Big Brother, George Orwell and '1984.' It's just funny how Americans have softened on these issues."

"No one talks about it," agreed Scott Martin, a Lancaster County commissioner who wants to expand the program. "Because people feel safer. Law-abiding citizens have nothing to worry about."

But Mary Pat Donnellon, head of Mission Research, a local software company, vowed to move if she finds one on her block. "I don't want to live like that," she said. "I'm not afraid. And I don't need to be under surveillance."

"No one has the right to know who goes in and out my front door," agreed David Mowrer, a laborer for a local company. "That's my business. That's not what America is about."

Hundreds of municipalities - including Los Angeles and at least 36 other California cities - have built or expanded camera networks since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In most cases, grants from the Department of Homeland Security have helped to cover the cost.

How they affect crime is open to debate.

In the largest U.S. study, researchers at UC Berkeley evaluated 71 cameras that San Francisco installed in high-crime areas starting in 2005. Their final report, released in December, found "no evidence" of a drop in violent crime but "substantial declines" in property crime near the cameras.

In February, the city council in Cambridge, Massachusetts, voted not to use eight cameras already purchased with federal funds for fear police would improperly spy on residents. And officials in nearby Brookline are considering switching off a dozen cameras for the same reason.

Lancaster is different, and not just because it sits amid the rolling hills and rich farms of Pennsylvania Dutch country.

Laid out in 1730, the whole town comprises 4 square miles around a central square. Amish families still sell quilts in the nation's oldest public market, and the Wal-Mart provides a hitching post to park a horse and buggy. Tourists flock to art galleries and Colonial-era churches near a glitzy new convention center.

But poverty here is double the state's average, and public school records list more than 900 children as homeless. Police blame most of last year's 3,638 felony crimes - chiefly thefts - on gangs that use Lancaster as a way station to move cocaine, heroin and other illegal drugs along the Eastern Seaboard.

"It's not like we're making headlines as the worst crime-ridden city in the country," said Craig Stedman, the county's district attorney. "We have an average amount of crime for our size."

[The problem is that since the city started to install cameras eight years ago, the crime rate has risen LOL].

Sarkozy speaks out against the burka ...

2009-06-22T20:30:00.005+02:00

BBC

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has spoken out strongly against the wearing of the burka by Muslim women in France.

In a major policy speech, he said that the burka - a garment covering women from head to toe - reduced them to servitude and undermined their dignity.

Mr Sarkozy also gave his backing to the establishment of a parliamentary commission to look at whether to ban the wearing of burkas in public.

In 2004, France banned the Islamic headscarves in its state schools.

"We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity," Mr Sarkozy told a special session of parliament in Versailles.

"That is not the idea that the French republic has of women's dignity.

"The burka is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French republic," the French president said.

But he stressed that France "must not fight the wrong battle", saying that "the Muslim religion must be respected as much as other religions" in the country.

A group of a cross-party lawmakers also wants to examine whether women who wear the veil are doing so voluntarily or are being forced to cover themselves.

In 2004, France banned the Islamic headscarf and other conspicuous religious symbols from public schools, triggering heated debate in the country and abroad.

Members of the French government have been divided over the issue.

The immigration minister, Eric Besson, has said a full ban will only "create tensions" while the junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade, said she would accept a ban if it was aimed at protecting women forced to wear the burka.

France's official Muslim council has criticised the debate.

"To raise the subject like this, via a parliamentary committee, is a way of stigmatising Islam and the Muslims of France," said Mohammed Moussaoui, head of the French Council for the Muslim Religion.

France is home to about five million Muslims.

Happy Summer Solstice: The longest day of the year ...

2009-06-21T11:23:00.012+02:00

Sunrise at Stonehenge - 4.58 this morning
Courtesy of APOD, nasa

Today, the sun will stay in the sky longer than any other day of the year, as seen from the northern hemisphere of Earth.

Know as the Summer Solstice, today's maximum daylight is indicative of the high amount of sunlight at this time of year that is primarily responsible for the heat of the summer season.

At the north pole, and for all places above the arctic circle, there will be no night - the entire day today will be lit by sunlight.

The situation is reversed in Earth's southern hemisphere, where today has the least sunlight of any day.

Feel like eating something healthy this evening? Then why not pop round to the Heart Attack Grill and treat yourself to a Quadruple Bypass ...

2009-06-20T17:30:00.025+02:00

The Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona is a restaurant with a difference! Take a look at the menu:

And should you happen to almost die in the process of trying to get even more fat and disgusting than you already are, the waitresses at the Heart Attack Grill double as nurses and the hospital is just a few blocks away LOL

Bon Appetit!

Switzerland agrees to US tax deal ...

2009-06-20T10:21:00.003+02:00

BBC report [edited my Paul]

Switzerland has agreed a new bilateral framework on sharing tax information with the US as it continues to ease its once strict banking secrecy.

In March, the Swiss government announced that it would start to abide by the current global standards on sharing bank data.

Switzerland is hoping that these moves will help secure its removal from a list of countries considered likely tax havens.

In February, Swiss bank UBS had to give the US details of 300 account holders.

The US government had accused the 300 - all American citizens - of using their Swiss accounts to avoid paying tax.

UBS gave their details to US authorities after legal action in America.

US officials have since demanded details of a further 50,000 UBS customers, but the bank has so far refused.

The Swiss finance ministry said that the new tax deal with the US would be officially signed in the next few months.

However, it added that individual tax details would only be exchanged with the US "in individual cases where a specific and justified request has been made".

This echoed a similar comment made in March when the government said it would only respond to "concrete and justified" requests for personal banking data.

Global rules on the sharing of bank account details are set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which has its headquarters in Paris.

Switzerland is currently on the OECD's "grey list" of countries that need to improve their exchange of tax information or face possible financial sanctions.

If you live in Rome (in the USA), don't answer your door for the next 6 weeks: The Jehovah's Witness convention is in town! ...

2009-06-19T21:35:00.008+02:00

Edited from the Rome News Tribune

More than 18,000 members of the Watchtower Society, also known as the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, are expected to visit Rome in Georgia during the next six weeks for their annual district convention.

Donald Moore, the head of news services for the convention, said that the first of the six conventions starts today at 9:20 a.m.

Moore expects around 3,100 people per weekend to attend. The overall topic will be “How can you survive the end of the world?”

“We’re hoping to teach people to stay awake as Christians and be prepared because we know from predictions in scripture that the end is near,” he said. [CRACKPOT!!!]

Moore said that some members will be going door-to-door through some neighborhoods handing out invitations and to give testimony to those who are interested.

Henry Allingham is now the oldest man in the world ...

2009-06-19T19:38:00.003+02:00

As a follow up to my post a few weeks ago, World War I veteran Henry Allingham, seen above celebrating his 113th birthday, is now the world's oldest man following the sad death of the Japanese record holder, Tomoji Tanabe.

Congratulations Henry!

Ayatollah backs election result ...

2009-06-19T13:45:00.003+02:00

BBC

Iran's Supreme Leader has issued a stern warning that protests against the country's disputed presidential election results must end.

In his first public remarks after days of demonstrations, Ayatollah Khamenei said the outcome must be decided at the ballot box, not on the street.

He said political leaders would be blamed for any violence.

Demonstrators calling for a new election earlier vowed to stage fresh protests on Saturday.

Addressing huge crowds at Tehran University, the ayatollah voiced support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying the president's views on foreign affairs and social issues were close to his.

Mr Ahmadinejad was among the thousands of people who packed the campus and surrounding streets, punctuating the ayatollah's speech with chants.

Responding to allegations of electoral fraud, the ayatollah insisted the Islamic Republic would not cheat.

"There is an 11-million votes difference," the ayatollah said. "How can one can rig 11 million votes?"

He appealed to candidates who had doubts about the election result to pursue any challenges through legal avenues.

BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne says that Ayatollah Khamenei appears to have staked everything on this election result and Mr Ahmadinejad.

It all points to heavy crackdowns if the protests continue, our correspondent says.

'Political earthquake'

In his highly anticipated address after Friday prayers, the ayatollah said despite differences of opinion among the presidential candidates, they were all trustworthy and loyal to the Islamic Republic.

He said the election was a "political earthquake" for Iran's enemies - singling out Great Britain as "the most evil of them" - whom he accused of trying to foment unrest in the country.

"Some of our enemies in different parts of the world intended to depict this absolute victory, this definitive victory, as a doubtful victory," the Supreme Leader said.

The official results gave Mr Ahmadinejad 63% of the vote against 34% for his main election rival, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

The Guardian Council - Iran's main electoral authority - has invited Mr Mousavi and two other defeated candidates to discuss their objections tomorrow.

Illegal immigrant loses arm in a bakery kneading machine. It's time for Spain to get tough with health, safety and immigration regulations ...

2009-06-19T12:28:00.012+02:00

Far too many companies in Spain ignore Health and Safety regulations as a matter of course. In fact, it's common throughout the country to see people (often illegal immigrants) working on building sites with absolutely no safety gear whatsoever. Of the six workers in the photo above, only one is wearing a hard hat and work boots.

Now the owners of a bakery in the town of Real de Gandía near Valencia face 6 to 10 years in prison for employing an illegal Bolivian immigrant - Frans Rilles Melgar - and allowing him to use a dough kneading machine without adequate safety measures.

The machine ripped his left arm off.

The owners of the bakery - the Rovira brothers - were met outside the court by a crowd of journalists as they arrived on Thursday morning to face charges of illegal employment, health and safety, and injury.

It’s a case which has received extensive coverage in the Spanish press.

There are claims that the injured man was dropped 200 metres from the hospital and told to say nothing about his employment situation.

It was also revealed that the arm he lost was found to be too badly damaged to be reattached after his bosses threw it out with the rubbish.

In addition to the injured man having worked at the bakery for almost two years earning 700 Euros a month for 12-hour shifts, an inspector’s report also found serious safety and hygiene deficiencies on the premises.

Another six staff were also working in the same bakery without being registered with Social Security.

The injured immigrant was granted residence papers by the government last Friday.

Unforgivable: Female inmate serving time for prostitution dies after being left in an unshaded cage in 42 degrees Celsius for 4 hours ...

2009-06-18T12:51:00.006+02:00

Medieval torture in US prisons.

Marcia Powell, 48, was serving a 27-month sentence for prostitution at the Arizona State Prison Complex, Perryville when detention officers, who were transferring her to a detention unit, placed her in an uncovered outdoor holding cage at around 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

The temperature was around 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit).

She collapsed at about 2:40 p.m. and was taken to West Valley Hospital a half-hour later, but she died shortly after midnight.

Three corrections officers have been put on paid leave during an investigation.

Prisons director Charles Ryan told reporters at an afternoon news briefing that he's concerned that Powell was left in the cage despite the fact that there were corrections officers 20 yards away in a control room.

"It's our responsibility to ensure the care and custody of the inmate population," Ryan said. "The death of Marcia Powell is a tragedy and a failure. The purpose of the investigation is to determine whether there was negligence and to remedy our failures."

Ryan said he hopes to release a report into Powell's death by late next week. The Maricopa County Attorney's office will then decide whether to charge the corrections officers involved.

Powell arrived at the Perryville prison in August 2008. She was placed alone in the cage while being moved to an onsite detention unit after seeing a prison psychologist. Ryan said that a disturbance at the detention unit prompted Powell's placement in the holding cage. He would not elaborate on the nature of the disturbance.

Ryan said that officers gave Powell bottled water, as required under prison policy. Investigators will try to determine how much water she was given and whether she drank it. Under department policy, she should have been removed from the cage after two hours, but this did not happen.

"It is intended to be temporary," Ryan said. "It is not intended to be a place where they are held for an inordinate amount of time."

Powell had been in and out of state prisons and had a long history of mental illness, Ryan said. He would not say whether she was on medication.

Ryan would not release the names of the officers placed on paid leave.

He said that he told all state prison wardens to monitor the temperatures at outdoor holding "cells" while they are housing inmates.

Corrections officials were unable to locate family members. Ryan said prison records show that Powell may have had two children whom she placed in foster care years ago.

Powell is the 79th person to die in state prisons since July 2008, according to Ryan. He said most of the deaths were from natural causes, but there were three suicides and one murder.

There are two deaths still being investigated, including Powell's and that of an inmate who was found dead in his bed at a Buckeye prison last month, Ryan said.

Donna Leone Hamm, executive director of Tempe-based Middle Ground Prison Reform Inc., called the outdoor cell "a cage for human beings" and said Powell's case represents a failure of the mental health system.

"There are hundreds of mentally ill people who have been shuffled out of the mental health system and into prisons," Hamm said. "But this particular situation is unconscionable."

The picture says it all ...

2009-06-17T10:51:00.002+02:00

Teenager from Iowa, USA wins $50,000 in texting competition ...

2009-06-17T10:26:00.007+02:00

SAMANTHA GROSS, Associated Press

NEW YORK – The nation's newest texting champion has a message for parents across the land — although they might not want to hear it.

"Let your kid text during dinner! Let your kid text during school! It pays off," 15-year-old Kate Moore said Tuesday after winning the LG U.S. National Texting Championship.

After all, she said: "Your kid could win money and publicity and a phone." [Yeah, right!]

For the Des Moines, Iowa, teenager, her 14,000 texts-per-month habit reaped its own rewards, landing her the competition prize of $50,000 just eight months after she got her first cell phone.

Moore, with a speedy and accurate performance, beat 20 other finalists from around the country over two days of challenges such as texting blindfolded and texting while maneuvering through a moving obstacle course [clearly essential skills for life!].

The teen dismisses the idea that she focuses too much on virtual communications, saying that while she has sometimes had her phone taken away from her in school, she keeps good grades, performs in school plays and socializes with friends — in person — on the weekends.

In between, she finds time to send about 400 to 470 texts a day [crazy!].

The finalists were among 250,000 people who tried to get spots in the competition. Some won their spots at the Manhattan finals by being the fastest people to text responses to televised ads.

It's the third year for the texting competition, sponsored by LG Electronics Inc.'s mobile-phones division. But it's the first time that it was held at a flashy sound stage with an illuminated platform and surrounded by TV cameras. LG, based in Seoul, South Korea, is considering using the footage in a televised special of some kind.

Twenty-year-old Jackie Boyd, who came in fifth in the competition, said she usually prefers text messages to phone calls because they get through faster and they're more private — leaving her unworried about other people listening in.

"You can get more of what you really truly want to say" across with texting, said the Syracuse University psychology major. "Especially if it's an argument, you don't have to worry about saying the wrong thing.

"And if you don't want to respond, you can always say, 'Oh, I didn't get your text.'"

Freedom of speech repressed: Iran's Revolutionary Guards issue warning to media ...

2009-06-17T10:07:00.004+02:00

ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's most powerful military force is warning online media of a crackdown over their coverage of the country's election crisis.

The Revolutionary Guards, an elite body answering to the supreme leader, says Iranian Web sites and bloggers must remove any materials that "create tension" or they will face legal action.

It is the Guards' first public statement since the crisis erupted following the presidential election last Friday.

Iranian reformist Web sites as well as blogs and Western Web sites like Facebook and Twitter have been vital conduits for Iranians to inform the world about protests over the declaration of election victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

On Tuesday, the government barred foreign media from leaving their offices to report on the street protests.

British Airways asks employees to work without pay ...

2009-06-16T21:51:00.002+02:00

British Airways asks its employees to volunteer for periods of unpaid work.

LONDON (AP)

British Airways on Tuesday urged its staff to work for nothing in an effort to save the company money.

British Airways PLC is struggling to come up with ways to save cash after reporting its biggest full-year loss since the former national airline was privatized in 1987.

BA chief Willie Walsh has said he would not draw a salary for the month of July [Whoopie! That's very generous of him LOL], and urged other employees to work for blocks of time without being paid.

"I am looking for every single part of the company to take part in some way in this cash-effective way of helping the company's survival plan. It really counts," Walsh said in a company publication. [He should learn to speak English!]

BA said the option meant employees would effectively volunteer to take a cut in base pay, with the lost income spread out over several months. The company had said last month [that] it would ask employees to consider working without pay.

The UNITE union, which represents thousands of BA ground and cabin crew, gave the proposal a chilly reception. The union said that while Walsh might be able to afford working a month for free, its members could not.

BA said last month that it had lost 375 million pounds ($595 million) in the year ending March 31, compared with a profit of 712 million pounds in the previous year. That is its worst result in more than two decades of business, the previous low point being a 200 million pounds loss in 2001-2002. [Isn't that an indication that Willie Walsh should be sacked?]

A picture is worth a thousand words ...

2009-06-15T17:26:00.001+02:00

Iran Update: Iran supreme leader orders probe of election fraud ...

2009-06-15T13:05:00.005+02:00

By ANNA JOHNSON and ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's supreme leader has ordered an investigation into allegations of election fraud, marking a stunning turnaround by the country's most powerful figure and offering hope to opposition forces who have waged street clashes to protest the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

State television quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei directing a high-level clerical panel - the Guardian Council - to look into charges by pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has said he is the rightful winner of Friday's presidential election.

The decision comes after Mousavi wrote a letter appealing to the Guardian Council and met Sunday with Khamenei, who holds almost limitless power over Iranian affairs. Such an election probe by the 12-member council is uncharted territory and it is not immediately clear how it will proceed or how long it might take.

Election results must be authorized by the council, composed of clerics closely allied with the unelected supreme leader. All three of Ahmadinejad's challengers in the election — Mousavi and two others — have made public allegations of fraud after results showed the president winning by a 2-to-1 margin.

"Issues must be pursued through a legal channel," state TV quoted Khamenei as saying. The supreme leader said he has "insisted that the Guardian Council carefully probe this letter."

The day after the election, Khamenei urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad and called the result a "divine assessment."

The results touched off three days of clashes — the worst unrest in Tehran in a decade. Protesters set fires and battled anti-riot police, including a clash overnight at Tehran University after 3,000 students gathered to oppose the election results.

One of Mousavi's Web sites said a student protester was killed early Monday during clashes with plainclothes hard-liners in Shiraz, southern Iran. But there was no independent confirmation of the report. There have also been unconfirmed reports of unrest breaking out in other cities across Iran.

Argentine glacier advances despite global warming ...

2009-06-14T20:28:00.001+02:00

By JEANNETTE NEUMANN, Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier is one of only a few ice fields worldwide that have withstood rising global temperatures.

Nourished by Andean snowmelt, the glacier constantly grows even as it spawns icebergs the size of apartment buildings into a frigid lake, maintaining a nearly perfect equilibrium since measurements began more than a century ago.

"We're not sure why this happens," said Andres Rivera, a glacialist with the Center for Scientific Studies in Valdivia, Chile. "But not all glaciers respond equally to climate change."

Viewed at a safe distance on cruise boats or the wooden observation deck just beyond the glacier's leading edge, Perito Moreno's jagged surface radiates a brilliant white in the strong Patagonian sun. Submerged sections glow deep blue.

And when the wind blows in a cloud cover, the 3-mile-wide (5 kilometer) glacier seems to glow from within as the surrounding mountains and water turn a meditative gray.

Every few years, Perito Moreno expands enough to touch a point of land across Lake Argentina, cutting the nation's largest freshwater lake in half and forming an ice dam as it presses against the shore.

The water on one side of the dam surges against the glacier, up to 200 feet (60 meters) above lake level, until it breaks the ice wall with a thunderous crash, drowning the applause of hundreds of tourists.

"It's like a massive building falling all of a sudden," said park ranger Javier D'Angelo, who experienced the rupture in 1998 and 2008.

The rupture is a reminder that while Perito Moreno appears to be a vast, 19-mile-long (30 kilometer) frozen river, it's a dynamic icescape that moves and cracks unexpectedly.

"The glacier has a lot of life," said Luli Gavina, who leads mini-treks across the glacier's snow fields.

The power of the Internet: A private beach party on the north German holiday island of Sylt turns into a horror show ...

2009-06-14T12:59:00.007+02:00

What should have been a relatively small private beach party on the German island of Sylt on Saturday, turned into a nightmare for local and national police.

The organizers originally invited about 100 people via the Internet, but word of the party spread rapidly, and throughout the course of the day, over 5,000 people surged onto the island from the mainland.

"The whole thing spread like wildfire on the Internet", said a police spokesperson. "Over 13,000 people responded. It was a genuine 'flash mob'."

The organizers only had two ghetto-blasters, and a small supply of alcohol which quickly ran out, causing the mood of the uninvited guests to deteriorate rapidly. By 10pm, many disappointed partygoers had already started to return to the mainland.

"Especially shocking," according to the police spokesperson, "were the very high number of totally drunk people and the resulting violence that took place."

"Besides a number of injuries, property was also damaged and we had to break up many fights," he added.

Six people drank themselves into such a stupor that they had to be taken into police custody.

A creationist museum in the US has had 700,000 visitors in 2 years. This confirms that there are at least 700,000 very stupid people on the planet?

2009-06-14T11:29:00.010+02:00

Here are a four creationists and what they believe:

Robert Mailloux, a 68-year-old retired businessman, dismisses Darwin's theory as "not even a low grade hypothesis" and said it had "no substantial science" in it. "The Bible says God created the Earth in six days and we [creationists] believe that. There are over 100 ways science is able to look at the Earth and 90 say it is thousands of years old - only 10 say it's real old." [work that one out if you can! I'm still trying! LOL] He adds: "The way liberals and evolutionists win an argument is to outlaw freedom of speech... they won't let us in [I wonder why!]. Why is Darwin buried with kings at Westminster Abbey? He's not a king. He's the king of the atheists' movement; he's the king of people who don't want to deal with the guilt that's put on them by sin... it's a weight and a bondage, they become their own God." [WOW! That's deep! LOL]

Dan Schoonmaker, a 26-year-old Army helicopter pilot (who, as a member of the military, gets in free [think about that]) describes himself as a "creationist in training", admitting it needed "a lot of faith". "I personally don't know, but natural selection seems to be the only thing people go on. It should be more open," he says. "There are sometimes better explanations for things, I mean people thought the earth was flat." Theories other than evolutionary science should be given more prominence and there should be an option to study creationism in schools, with parents given the choice, he believes. "I'm a creationist in training, I don't really go to church, but I'm curious about Genesis." [and this guy flies helicopters???!!!]

Laurie Geesey, a 57-year-old former high school teacher, says she believes God created "everything visible and invisible" and feels that people look down on her views "especially under the current [White House] administration" [what a twit!]. "It interferes with their lifestyle, you know 'If it feels good go ahead and do it' - the Bible doesn't teach that," she says. In fact, she's not sure Darwin believed his own theory [LOL]. Her husband, Richard Geesey, a 67-year-old retired university professor, says he was "very impressed" by the museum and liked the fact that scriptures backed up the exhibits. "I believe in a lot of this and wanted to see how accurate it was," he says. "I believe the Earth is around 5,500 years old. If you don't believe in Genesis, you don't believe in anything else." [... and this guy was a university professor???!!! I don't know whether to laugh or cry!]

Scott Rubin, a 42-year-old father-of-three from Chicago, says that he turned to God late in life. He was a business consultant until he "had an encounter with Jesus" and became a youth pastor [another nut who is allowed to have contact with 'your' kids!]. He says "evolution is a good theory, but I don't believe in it. Some parts are sensible, and some parts of creationism are sensible. When it comes down to it, how can you know for sure? What I do know is that God has changed my life. I believe God created the world in six days; I do believe that." Mr Rubin says that he "never intended to be a church guy. It makes sense why people believe in evolution, especially if they haven't had the encounter with Jesus that I've had."

[Honestly, is it really any wonder that the world is in such a mess with people like this educating your kids?]

Comment on the current situation in Iran as of 20.00 GMT ...

2009-06-13T19:53:00.010+02:00

The BBC reports:

Thousands of angry protesters have clashed with police after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of Iran's presidential poll.

Secret police have been attacked, while riot police used batons and tear gas against backers of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who called the results a "charade".

Correspondents say the violence is the worst seen in Tehran in a decade.

In a televised address to the nation, Mr Ahmadinejad thanked voters for giving him a "great victory".

Mr Mousavi, a former prime minister, dismissed the election result as deeply flawed.

"I personally strongly protest the many obvious violations and I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade," the Reuters news agency reported him as saying.

Mr Mousavi had said there was a shortage of ballot papers and alleged that millions of people had been denied the right to vote.

His election monitors were not allowed enough access to polling stations, he added.

The head of the Committee to Protect the People's Votes, a group set up by all three opposition candidates, said the group would not accept the result, alleging fraud.

They have asked Iran's Guardian Council - a powerful body controlled by conservative clerics - to cancel the results and re-run the elections. A second opposition candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, declared the results "illegitimate and unacceptable".

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says the result has been greeted with surprise and with deep scepticism by many Iranians.

The figures, if they are to be believed, show Mr Ahmadinejad winning strongly ... even in the heartland of Mr Mousavi.

The scale of Mr Ahmadinejad's win means that many people who voted for a reformist candidate in the previous presidential election four years ago have apparently switched their votes to Mr Ahmadinejad, he adds.

However, the president does enjoy the support of many of the urban poor and rural dwellers.

"I am happy that my candidate has won - he helps the poor and he catches the thieves," sandwich seller Kamra Mohammadi, 22, told the AFP news agency.

Mr Mousavi gains much of his support from the middle classes and the educated urban population.

BBC Iranian affairs analyst Sadeq Saba says the result means that hope for peaceful reform in Iran may die for a long time.

There had been a surge of interest in Iran's presidential election, with unprecedented live television debates between the candidates and rallies attended by thousands.

My opinion:

I do not condone violence of any sort, but if Hitler had not been stopped, Europe would now be under Nazi rule. Imagine that!

The Iranians are now fighting for much needed reform. This will not happen while Ahmadinejad rules.

If the American people had stood up to the decision of the Supreme Court in 2000, Al Gore would have taken his rightful place as President of the United States and hundreds of thousands of lives would not have been lost in Iraq.

Instead, there were no real protests when George W. Bush was placed in the seat of power ... and the rest, as they say, is history.

UPDATE: Tehran tense after disputed election results ...

2009-06-13T12:07:00.002+02:00

A glum Iranian supporter of reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi rests his head on his arms, wearing a green T-shirt symbolizing his party's color
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI and ANNA JOHNSON, Associated Press Writers

Anti-riot police guarded the offices overseeing Iran's disputed elections Saturday with the count pointing to a landslide victory by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while his opponent denounced the results as "treason" and threatened a challenge.

The standoff left Tehran in tense anticipation. Many people opened shops and carried out errands, but the backdrop was far from normal: black-clad police gathering around key government buildings and mobile phone text messaging blocked in an apparent attempt to stifle one of the main communication tools of the pro-reform movement of Mir Hossein Mousavi.

A statement from Mousavi posted on his Web site urged his supporters to resist a "governance of lie and dictatorship."

Outside the Interior Ministry, which directed Friday's voting, security forces set up a cordon. The results had flowed quickly after polls closed showing the hard-line president with a comfortable lead — defying expectations of a nail-biter showdown following a month of fierce campaigning and bringing immediate charges of vote rigging by Mousavi.

But an expected announcement on the full outcome was temporarily put on hold. A reason for the delay was not made public, but it suggested intervention by Iran's Islamic authorities seeking to put the brakes on a potentially volatile showdown.

Ahmadinejad had the apparent backing of the ruling theocracy, which holds near-total power and would have the ability to put the election results into a temporary limbo.

Read full article here

UPDATE: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been re-elected as president of Iran with a "resounding victory", the country's electoral commission says ...

2009-06-13T11:36:00.006+02:00

Mir Hossein Mousavi - clearly the true winner
With more than 80% of results already in, the commission [big joke!] has declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner.

His main rival, reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi, has also claimed victory, calling the result a "dangerous charade".

Police have sealed off Mr Mousavi's campaign HQ, preventing his supporters from holding a news conference [it was only to be expected, wasn't it?].

Mr Mousavi was hoping to prevent Mr Ahmadinejad from winning more than 50% of the vote, thereby securing a run-off election.

However, the Iranian election commission said Mr Mousavi's share of the votes was only around 32%.

[What a farce!]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is heading for a "resounding win" in Iran's presidential election, the electoral commission says. What a surpise!!! ...

2009-06-13T10:47:00.005+02:00

By the BBC ... with a few subtle additions by me

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is [as expected!] on course to be re-elected as president of Iran with a resounding poll win [yeah, right!], according to electoral commission figures. [The commission is run by Ahmadinejad's government, so did we really expect anything different?]

With 80% of the votes counted, the commission said Mr Ahmadinejad had already won 65%. [Of course they would! A candidate has to secure 50% of the votes in the first round to avoid a run-off!].

His main rival, reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi, also claimed victory and has complained of voting irregularities [but it won't do him any good!].

However, the Iranian election commission said Mr Mousavi's share of the vote was around 32% [well they would, wouldn't they?!].

The state news agency Irna [also controled by Ahmadinejad] has declared Mr Ahmadinejad the "definite winner", and his campaign manager was quoted as saying "any doubts cast on this victory will be treated as a joke by the public" [Ha Ha!!! We're all laughing!!!].

The president's supporters celebrated by taking to motorbikes on the streets of Tehran, chanting "God is Great", while there were reports that a rally for Mr Mousavi was broken up.

Mr Ahmadinejad needs 50% of the votes to avoid a second round.

Mr Mousavi has alleged widespread electoral fraud.

It was Al Gore who really won the US Presidential election in 2000. Not George W. Bush.

The whole world is a mess.

I hate receiving chain mail (LOL) ...

2009-06-12T21:47:00.003+02:00

Courtesy of Dennis

US Congress backs tobacco clampdown (great news) ...

2009-06-12T19:38:00.003+02:00

Courtesy of the BBC

The US House of Representatives has backed a bill introducing tough new curbs on the tobacco industry.

The House passed the bill by 307-97, a day after it was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate. It now goes to President Obama to be signed into law.

The bill gives the US Food and Drug Administration strong powers to regulate the content and marketing of tobacco products.

It has been hailed as a milestone in the history of tobacco regulation.

About one in five Americans smoke, and the habit kills some 440,000 every year.

But tougher regulation has been stiffly opposed by the industry and tobacco's political backers.

Until now, tobacco has been more lightly regulated than cosmetics or pet food, and previous attempts at FDA regulation were struck down by the Supreme Court as requiring congressional approval.

The bill will "make history", President Obama said on Thursday after it was passed by the Senate by 79-17.

He may sign it into law as early as today.

Who will the Iranians choose to be their next president? Could it ever be a fair election? Very doubtful ...

2009-06-12T10:16:00.015+02:00

Mir Hossein Mousavi
From a report by NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press

Iranians vote today (Friday) on whether to keep hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power for four more years or replace him with Mir Hossein Mousavi, a reformist more open to loosening the country's Islamic restrictions and improving ties with the United States.

The rowdy election campaign, which lasted less than a month, electrified many voters and reshaped how the world sees Iran's political process. The mass street demonstrations, polished campaign slogans and televised debates more closely resembled Western elections than the scripted campaigns in most other Middle Eastern countries.

Iran's cell phone text messaging system was down on Friday. Many Iranians, especially young voters — many of whom favor Mir Hossein Mousavi — frequently used text messages to spread election information quickly to friends and family.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is in a neck-to-neck battle with Ahmadinejad, accused Iran's telecommunications provider, which is owned by the government, of shutting the system and alleged that some of his representatives were barred from entering polling stations to monitor the vote.

"Unfortunately, some of my representatives were blocked from entering polling stations and SMS (text messaging) is also down, which is against the law," Mousavi said after voting, according to his campaign Website. "We should not be fearful about the free flow of information, and I urge officials to observe the law."

The spokesman for Iran's telecommunication ministry, Davood Zareian, confirmed to The Associated Press that the text message system has been down since late Wednesday. "We are investigating the case," he said without elaborating.

Read full article here

Massive black hole in M87 is much heavier than originally thought ...

2009-06-11T11:04:00.006+02:00

Above: M87 is a type of galaxy that looks very different from our own Milky Way. Even for an elliptical (egg-shaped) galaxy, M87 is peculiar. It is much larger than an average galaxy and shows an unusually high number of globular clusters. Globular clusters are gravitationally bound concentrations of approximately ten thousand to one million stars, spread over a volume of several tens to about 200 light years in diameter. These globular clusters are visible as faint spots surrounding the bright center.

In general, elliptical galaxies contain similar numbers of stars as spiral galaxies, but are ellipsoidal in shape (spiral galaxies are mostly flat), have no spiral structure, and little gas and dust.

M87 is 120,000 light-years in diameter (larger than our own Milky Way which is approx. 100,000 light-years in diameter) and is the dominant galaxy at the center of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, some 50 million light-years away. It is the likely home to a supermassive black hole responsible for the high-energy jet of particles emerging from the galaxy's central region.

Click on the image for larger view.

Report by Ker Than for National Geographic News [edited by Paul]

A new computer model suggests that the supermassive black hole at the heart of the M87 weighs the same as 6.4 billion suns — two to three times heavier than previous estimates.

The model is the first to make detailed calculations of the "halo" of dark matter surrounding M87.

Based on their gravitational behavior, all galaxies are thought to have very massive black holes at their cores and are enveloped in clouds of mysterious dark matter.

But previous models of galaxy mass did not include dark halos because calculating their masses would have used too much computing power.

Now, using a supercomputer at the University of Texas at Austin, astronomer Karl Gebhardt and colleagues have re-run the numbers for M87.

The new estimate suggests that a large bulk of the mass initially thought to belong to stars at M87's core is actually locked up in the halo at the galaxy's outer edge.

But the actual mass of the core is still thought to be the same. So if the extra mass isn't tied up in stars, it must belong to the supermassive black hole, Gebhardt explained.

"By including the dark halo, you reduce the amount of the mass [of stars in the center] of M87 by a factor of two," he said.

"In order to make up for that, you have to increase the mass of the black hole."

Gebhardt suspects the mass estimates for supermassive black holes in other nearby galaxies are also off by factors of two or more.

Black Hole Puzzle

If confirmed, the finding could help solve a cosmic mystery concerning the masses of central black holes in quasars.

Quasars are extremely distant galaxies that have huge amounts of radiation spewing from their core black holes.

Other studies have suggested that the "active" black holes in quasars weigh as much as ten billion times the mass of the sun. So astronomers have been puzzled as to why the central black holes in local galaxies are puny by comparison.

But if the masses of nearby black holes are actually two to three times larger, Gebhardt said, the problem "almost goes away."

Move over Fiat 500 - the Trabant is the next car in line for a modern makeover ...

2009-06-11T00:49:00.004+02:00

Hot on the heels of the Fiat 500 comes another cult car from the archives - the Trabant - which is set to be re-launched in 2009.

The Trabant was the car of the common man in East Germany from the 50s through to unification. It was a light and durable car with a two-stroke engine and plenty of room for a family of four. Amazingly, it was also eco-friendly before its time, using 'duroplast' for much of the car's structure - a recycled material, made from cotton waste from Russia and phenol resins from the East German dye industry.

The new Trabi is being made by a company called IndiKar, based in the east German state of Saxony. According to Ronald Gerschewski, the director of IndiKar: "We want to build a grown-up version of the famous Trabi. It will be simple, inexpensive and, of course, comply with contemporary security and environmental standards."

It is said to have the looks of the original Trabant (pictured above), but with a modern, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly engine and a price tag of just over €7,000 if all goes to plan. The new Trabat will hopefully be on view at the International Auto Show in Frankfurt in 2009 where a prototype will be officially launched.

Link

Eastern Germany has been less hard hit than the West ...

2009-06-10T21:50:00.007+02:00

A modern steel mill in the former East German city of Eisenhuttenstadt
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL

10 June 2009

A new government report shows that the former East Germany has been less bruised by the economic crisis than the richer West. The region has more smaller companies that are more flexible and less dependent on exports, it argues.

The former East Germany has long been eclipsed economically by the richer and more industrialized West. Yet, ironically, the eastern part of the country is now actually better equipped to deal with the ongoing economic crisis.

That, at least, is the conclusion of the government's annual report on German unity to be released on Wednesday. According to the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, which has seen the report, it states that the East's "stronger resistance to the crisis" is due to the higher number of small- and medium-sized companies there. These are thought to be able to react more flexibly to the challenges posed by the economic downturn.

Furthermore, in comparison to western Germany, companies in the former East are far less dependent on exports. Germany, a highly industrialized country, is the world's biggest exporter and has been severely hit by the slump in global trade. On Tuesday the latest figures showed that German exports had fallen by an alarming 22.9 percent in April compared with the same month in 2008.

However it is big industrial outfits, like carmakers and mechanical engineering firms, which tend to suffer disproportionately when export markets dry up, and these are much more likely to be found in the West of the country.

This year's report on German unity makes clear that, even as the country prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, there are still two Germanys with very different economic structures.

However, things are changing and the government expects the former East to have caught up with the weaker western regions, such as Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, within the next 10 years.

Wolfgang Tiefensee, the government minister with responsibility for the "new federal states," as the former East Germany is officially known, told the Berliner Zeitung that this would be a "considerable success."

The report, which Tiefensee is to present to the cabinet on Wednesday, will show that the gap between the two parts of the country is gradually narrowing, with the per capita output in the East having risen to 71 percent of that in the West, compared to just 67 percent in 2000. Companies' productivity, export quotas and capitalization are also showing signs of catching up with their western counterparts.

Nevertheless, when it comes to achieving true unity, the so-called "Wall in the mind" still persists.

The report is critical of the level of internal harmony achieved so far. According to the Thüringer Allgemeine newspaper, which has also seen the document, it states that: "The mutual recognition of the citizens in eastern and western Germany is not sufficient, despite all the progress."

People from the East and West still regard each other as different, and in the East there is a feeling of discrimination, the report argues. "Overcoming differences and creating similarities is still an important aim in the continuing process of uniting Germany," it says. "Prejudices must be confronted and clichés overcome."

A short history of beer ...

2009-06-10T20:46:00.009+02:00

Adapted from LegendsOfBeer.com

It’s well known that beer as a beverage dates back thousands of years, although its original appearance and taste were probably very different to the lagers and ales we’re used to today.

However, most people really don’t know how much influence beer wielded in ancient times. So I'm going to list a few interesting beer facts that come from a time long before cushioned bar stools.

No one really knows when beer was first brewed. It wasn't invented but most likely discovered by accident. All cereal-based products can undergo spontaneous fermentation due to airborne natural yeasts, but records show that people were drinking beer in China and Mesopotamia as far back as 7000 BCE. In fact, the oldest recipe ever discovered was for brewing a batch of beer, although this version of beer did not include hops and was sweetened with honey and dates, so it was much sweeter than today's varieties.

The type of beer that we consume today probably has its roots in the German Beer Purity Laws of 1516, which dictated that beer can only contain water, barley, and hops. However, this was not the first law that regulated beer production.

The first mention of a beer law was in the Code of Hammurabi, the infamous Babylonian leader. By the time the Code was impressed in clay in the 2nd Century BCE, beer had become an extremely popular beverage in Mesopotamia and in the rest of the Middle East.

Above: BEER MAKING INSTRUCTIONS, URUK, 3100 BCE

Many brewers and bar owners at the time would water down their product or use inferior grains to maximize profit. This angered Hammurabi, so he devised a law forbidding brewers or merchants from doing this. The punishment? The offending party was to be forcibly drowned in the swill that he created.

Over time, beer became extremely commonplace in Egypt and then it spread to Greece and Rome, although in those civilizations it was a distant second to wine in terms of popularity. However, in the Middle Ages beer consumption spiked upward again, especially in Germany, Britain, and Belgium where it was too cold to grow grapes.

At that time, water was generally unsafe to drink due to a lack of sanitation, but the fermentation process effectively killed most harmful microbes and bacteria, so it became the dominant beverage to drink with daily meals. It is estimated that the average person in Northern Europe consumed at least 65 gallons of beer over the course of a year! It was drunk with breakfast, lunch and the evening meal.

The Purity Laws and advances in brewing technology (especially during the Industrial Revolution, when the steam engine and the thermometer were invented) helped to improve the quality of beer and establish many of the brands that we know and love today.

However, there have been some attempts to recreate recipes and methods from ancient times. In 1989, Anchor Steam Brewing in San Francisco recreated the original Sumerian beer recipe when they released its Ninkasi beer (Ninkasi being the Sumerian goddess of brewing) for a limited time.

Newcastle Brewery, in conjunction with the University of Cambridge archeology department, was actually able to recreate a beer recipe originally found on the walls of the tomb of King Akhenaton - a Egyptian Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty who died around 1336 BCE.

The beer - named Tutankhamen after Ahkenaton’s more famous son - is an accurate representation of the original brew which used an ancient strand of wheat only found in the Nile Delta along with coriander seeds.

But it’s not just something you can pick up at a local corner store; only 1,000 bottles were brewed, and the final price tag of a Tutankhamen comes to $520 per bottle, making it one of the most expensive beers of all time!

A nice piece of history, although personally I’d rather pay much less for a good pint of Kilkenny's or Theakston's draught bitter :)

Next time you throw a stick and tell your dog to fetch it, think twice! ...

2009-06-09T20:33:00.003+02:00

Above: live US hand grenades from world war II

BERLIN (AFP)

A dedicated dog out on a walk found a live US hand grenade from World War II and delivered it to his master, police said on Monday. Fortunately, authorities were able to defuse the explosive before it went off.

The owner of the dog had let it off its leash near a stream on Sunday on the outskirts of the town of Erkrath in western Germany's Neander Valley.

The animal found the grenade on the ground, picked it up in its jaws and trotted back to its owner.

"She recognised immediately that it was probably an old, rusted hand grenade," police said. "On the orders of the woman, the dog obediently put his find back next to the stream."

She then alerted the authorities who blocked off the area and dispatched a munitions expert who identified the object as a still live American hand grenade from World War II and defused it.

Germany is still littered with unexploded Allied munitions more than six decades after the war, leading frequently to major evacuations when they are discovered in densely populated areas.

Power company says that the tritium leak at the Dresden Nuclear Power plant, 100 miles from Chicago, is not a problem ... [if you live in Europe!]

2009-06-08T22:21:00.010+02:00

Above: Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant, Illinois, USA

Courtesy of FARK

Officials at US power company, Exelon, are saying not to worry about the latest tritium leak at the Dresden Nuclear Power plant because it stayed in the middle of their property.

Routine monitoring late last week at the plant revealed 3.2 million picocuries per liter of water in one monitoring well and in nearby storm drains, as well as a concrete vault located near an outside water storage tank.

Tritium is a radioactive hydrogen isotope that is a by product of nuclear reactors producing electricity. Elevated levels of tritium are believed to cause cancer. The Illinois EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] has deemed 20,000 picocuries per liter of water as safe. A picocurie is one-trillionth of a curie - a measurement of radiological doses.

"While this is not a public or employee safety issue, we are committed to being forthright, clear and concise with our neighbors about the status of our plant operations," said Tim Hanley, Dresden site vice president.

Station experts are working to determine the source and are performing additional sampling to verify that the tritium is contained to the areas where it was found and to take steps no minimize the impact.

The plant has a monitoring system in place which includes 71 on-site wells that never contained a high amount of tritium until last week.

"Our monitoring program functioned as designed alerting us to the presence of tritium early so that we can address this issue quickly and effectively," Hanley said.

[Why do these guys always talk so much bullshit? Because the general public is so gullible.]

Exelon officials said that state and federal authorities were notified of the leak over the weekend. Notification is now mandatory in the wake of learning that millions of gallons of tritiated water had leaked out of the Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant in northeastern Illinois for more than 10 years.

Exelon is currently being sued by residents of Will County and by the state's attorney. The lawsuit could potentially cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

A sad day: Voters steer Europe to the right ...

2009-06-08T13:13:00.006+02:00

Article by Mark Mardell (Mark Mardell's Euroblog) for the BBC - 8 June 2009

The British National Party (BNP) will not feel too lonely in the European Parliament. Similar parties with a strong nationalist message and opposition to immigration have been elected in the Netherlands, Hungary and Romania.

The leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), Geert Wilders, denies he is a racist, saying his problem is with Islam as an ideology, not the colour of people's skin. The leader of the BNP and new MEP, Nick Griffin, says his all-white party is no more racist that the National Black Police Association.

Hungary's Jobbik says the real racists are the liberal establishment who do not put Hungarians first. They have attacked the Sunday Telegraph for its report on their party. It is time someone put this hotbed of liberal do-gooders in their place.

The rise of the right is patchy, and looking at where those patches are absent is important.

As far as I can see from the results in front of me, anti-immigration parties in Italy and France did not do well. In the run-up to the election, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi repeatedly compared Italian cities to "Africa", whether because of graffiti or "non-Italian" faces.

In the final days, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's stepped up his plan to crack down on knife crime and flood Paris's suburban ghettos with police. He didn't mention immigration. He didn't have to.

Long before I came to Brussels, certain Labour MPs were telling me how worried they were about the BNP. These were the same people who, as ministers, came up with the toughest rhetoric on the perils of too much immigration and too little integration.

The hard right may try to form a new group in the European Parliament, but until all the results are in, it is not easy to say if they will do so. I somehow doubt it. But even if they did, they would have little influence on legislation or even debate. Their real importance is that their election gives politicians from bigger parties a huge scare, and pushes the mainstream towards a tougher line.

Europe's oldest man celebrates his 113th birthday ...

2009-06-07T14:27:00.007+02:00

Henry William Allingham was born in London on 6 June 1896. At the age of 113, he is not only Europe's oldest man, but also one of the 15 oldest people in the world, and one of the 15 oldest men ever.

He is the oldest ever surviving member of any of the British Armed Forces, and the oldest surviving veteran of the First World War. He is also the last surviving member of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and the last surviving 'founding' member of the Royal Air Force (RAF).

Since 2001, he has become the face of the World War I Veterans Association and makes frequent public appearances to ensure that awareness of the death and destruction of World War I is not lost to modern generations.

Henry's life has spanned three centuries and six monarchs.

In 10 days time, another British veteran will also celebrate his birthday - his 111th.

Henry John "Harry" Patch - 'the lasy Tommy' - was born near Bath on 17 June, 1898. He is the last surviving soldier to have fought in the trenches during the First World War.

Harry is, at his current age of 110, the second-oldest living man in the UK and the sixth-oldest verified man in the world.

Congratulations to both of them!

Not dead, just resting (LOL) ...

2009-06-06T12:13:00.002+02:00

Arizona bishop found guilty of noise pollution [and about time, too!] ...

2009-06-06T11:24:00.012+02:00

For Whom the Bell Tolls!

PHOENIX, ARIZONA 4 June, 2009

A Phoenix bishop has received a suspended 10-day jail sentence because his church bells violated a city noise ordinance.

The bells at the Cathedral of Christ the King in northwest Phoenix normally chime on the hour from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Neighbors said the bells are too loud and ring too often.

In addition to Bishop Painter's sentence, the judge on Wednesday restricted chimes at the church to no more than 60 decibels for two minutes on Sundays and specific religious holidays [excellent!].

The Bishop said he will appeal (LOL)

Wal-Mart says it will create 22,000 jobs in 2009 ...

2009-06-04T19:36:00.004+02:00

AP, 4 June 2009

BENTONVILLE, Ark. – As Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opens about 150 new or expanded stores in the U.S. in 2009, the company expects to hire about 22,000 people for new positions.

Those positions include plenty of cashiers and stock clerks, but the world's largest retailer will also be adding store managers, pharmacists and personnel workers.

Wal-Mart is holding its annual shareholders meeting on Friday, and employees from its stores around the world are spending the week in Bentonville at company headquarters.

Wal-Mart, still the target of criticism from union-backed groups for its pay and benefits, has improved its health insurance coverage and opened it to full- and part-time employees. The company says 94 percent of its employees have health coverage, either through Wal-Mart or another family member.

"At Wal-Mart, we offer competitive pay and benefits and real opportunities for our associates to advance and build careers," Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright said. "Job creation is just one way in which we're working hard every day to help people across this country live better."

Other employee benefits include a 401(k) plan, stock purchases and discounts for workers making in-store purchases.

The company has touted its generic drugs program in which Wal-Mart is selling $4 prescriptions for many popular medicines. Competitors, such as Kroger Co., have matched the price for some prescriptions.

"During this difficult economic time, we're proud to be able to create quality jobs for thousands of Americans this year," Castro-Wright said.

Earlier this year, the company shared more than $2 billion with its workers through bonuses, profit sharing and payments into the company 401(k) plan.

Wal-Mart has more than 2.1 million employees in the U.S. and abroad. The company had sales last fiscal year of $401 billion.

Wal-Mart corporate site: here
International Operations: click here

Nothing has changed: The 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre brings new repression ...

2009-06-04T18:03:00.005+02:00

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN for the Associated Press

BEIJING – China aggressively deterred dissent in the capital on Thursday's 20th anniversary of the crackdown on democracy activists in Tiananmen Square. But tens of thousands turned out for a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong to mourn the hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators killed.

The central government ignored calls from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and even Taiwan's China-friendly president for Beijing to face up to the 1989 violence.

In Beijing, foreign journalists were barred from the vast square as uniformed and plainclothes police stood guard across the area, which was the epicenter of the student-led movement that was crushed by the military on the night of June 3-4, 1989.

Security officials checking passports blocked foreign TV camera operators and photographers from entering the square to cover the raising of China's national flag, which happens at dawn every day. Plainclothes officers confronted journalists on the streets surrounding the square, cursing and threatening violence against them.

Tourists were allowed in Tiananmen as usual, though security officials — paramilitary, police and plainclothes officers — appeared to outnumber the visitors.

The repression on the mainland contrasted starkly with Hong Kong, where tens of thousands of people bearing white candles chanted slogans calling for China to own up to the crackdown and release political dissidents. It was the largest commemoration on Chinese soil.

Organizers estimated the crowd at 150,000 — the largest rally since the first anniversary vigil in 1990 — while police put the number at 62,800.

"It is the dream of all Chinese people to have democracy!" the crowd gathered in Hong Kong's famous Victoria Park sang in unison.

A former British colony, the territory has retained its own legal system and open society since reverting to Chinese rule in 1997. Those killed in the violence were eulogized as heroes of the push for democracy in China, their names read aloud before the crowd observed a minute of silence in their memory.

"It's time for China to take responsibility for the killings," said Kin Cheung, a 17-year-old Hong Kong student. "They need to tell the truth."

On the mainland, government censors shut down social networking and image-sharing Web sites such as Twitter and Flickr and blacked out CNN and other foreign news channels each time they aired stories about Tiananmen.

Dissidents and families of crackdown victims were confined to their homes or forced to leave Beijing, part of sweeping efforts to prevent online debate or organized commemorations of the anniversary.

"We've been under 24-hour surveillance for a week and aren't able to leave home to mourn. It's totally inhuman," said Xu Jue, whose son was 22 when he was shot in the chest by soldiers and bled to death on June 4, 1989.

Read full article here

Some stingy racist Berlin restaurants pressurize foreigners into tipping more ...

2009-06-04T12:23:00.006+02:00

AFP

Several restaurants in Berlin, one of Europe's most-visited capitals, have begun issuing illicit bills to tourists with a message in English nudging them to pay more than is due.

Bills marked with the message "Service not included" or "Tip not included" are handed out routinely to customers who did not order in German at some establishments.

The addition in English or French, usually added with a stamp or printed, does not appear on bills in German. Laws governing the hospitality and catering sector stipulate that all prices include both tax and service.

Although waiters and waitresses earn a salary and are not reliant on tips for their base income, customers are invited to round the sum up - a practice that often leads Germans to add up to 10% as a gratuity.

"But that gesture is completely optional," said the spokeswoman for the German hotel and gastronomy industry association Dehoga, Stefanie Heckel. "You cannot demand a tip on the bill - it is not allowed," she added, noting that she had never heard of such practices.

But AFP spoke to around 20 foreign tourists who had had similar experiences during a stay in the German capital, which this year marks 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Over the course of three days, Daniel Dumond of France encountered such bills five times in five different eateries, to the extent that he thought Germany had changed its laws and that he was expected - like in the United States - to add at least 15% of the bill's sum for service.

A waitress at Friedas Schwester, a restaurant in the trendy Mitte district, said the establishment had started writing "Service not included" on its bills in response to a steep decline in tips by foreign visitors.

"It always used to be around 10 percent," said the waitress, who asked not to be named. "You get a salary, but that does not include tips - many customers don't know that."

Manager Uwe Reddig, of another cafe in the area Hackescher Hof, said his staff had asked him to print "Tip not included" on bills because they often felt short-changed by foreign guests.

Christian Tänzler of the Berlin tourism office has not registered a single complaint but acknowledged that such a mention could be misleading.

"It's very tricky - restaurant owners are playing around with the English word 'tip' which can be understood in a few different ways" - as the service charge or simply a tip for the server, said Taenzler, adding that such practices could "undermine Berlin's positive image." [This is rubbish! The word 'tip' only has one meaning in this particular context: A small sum of money given to someone for performing a service; a gratuity. It does not mean a service charge. Everyone knows that, Mr Tänzler!]

But "there is no ambiguity to the word 'service'," Christoph Roemer of the German consumers' federation said. "If that is what they're doing, it's daylight robbery."

Berlin, with around 10,000 restaurants and more than 640 hotels, welcomed 8.5 million tourists in 2008.

No one knows how common the practice is or the total amount of "extra" tips given by tourists misled by the bills. But its prevalence is beginning to raise eyebrows.

One Saturday night this month in a popular restaurant in the bustling Hackescher Markt area of the capital, a group of tourists complained to their waiter about the "Service not included" mention on their bill of more than €150 ($210) and quickly received a new bill without the phrase.

"Sorry, the computer prints that automatically," the server said sheepishly.

But Jochen Fischer, co-founder of the group Vectron which is the German market leader in cash registers, dismisses this excuse.

"Everything on a cash register receipt must be programmed beforehand," he said. "Claiming the contrary is nonsense."

[My opinion: Eating establishments that do such a thing are a disgrace and should be fined. Servers in restaurants, cafés and pubs - especially very busy establishments - have a very hard job and should be paid much more than they currently earn; but this does not mean that the customer should be made responsible for providing them with extra income. A tip should only be given if the server has been friendly and has done a good job. Many servers are rude and impatient and do not deserve a tip. It all comes down to a simple rule of business: If the product and service are good, the customer will come back for more. It's common sense.]

"Don't lecture us": Arabs tell Obama ...

2009-06-04T11:21:00.002+02:00

By Jailan Zayan for AFP, 3 Jun 2009

CAIRO (AFP) – "Obama is just a prettier face. I'm sure his intentions are in the right place but I don't expect much from the man," a Cairo electrician said on Wednesday as US President Barack Obama began his much-anticipated Middle East trip.

Newspapers, analysts and ordinary Arabs warned Obama -- whose election was hailed across the region -- against emulating the policies of Bush by lecturing Muslims on democracy, and also urged him to be tough with Israel.

Obama began his tour in Saudi Arabia and will deliver a speech in Cairo on Thursday to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, after eight years of fraught ties under his predecessor George W. Bush.

"Don't be biased towards Israel, don't interfere in countries' internal affairs and don't give lessons in democracy," said an editorial in Egypt's state-owned Rose El-Youssef newspaper.

The chief editor of Egypt's state-owned Al-Ahram, Ossama Saraya, said Obama faced demands from his team to "put pressure on the Muslim world under the pretext of democratisation and respect for human rights.

"There's nothing more absurd than putting more pressure on the Arab-Muslim world," Saraya said.

Washington's key Arab allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have repeatedly come under criticism from international rights organisations for their poor human rights records.

"He can't help the Palestinians because of the closeness of ties between Israel and America. He can't improve the situation here (Egypt) because he'll never convince the regime to change," said taxi driver Mohammed Abdullah.

Hamas, the Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip boycotted by the West as a terrorist group, urged Obama to put "real pressure" on Israel.

"We will judge this visit on the basis of what he will say and concrete measures that he will take," spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.

In Amman, the Jordan Times hoped that Obama - whose electoral promise of change has grabbed hearts in the troubled Middle East - should deliver on his pledge.

"If Obama fails in his mission of peace, the parties, and the world, might just as well prepare for more suffering and turmoil."

In Lebanon, where Sunday's parliamentary election will be monitored closely by Washington as it pits a Western-backed majority against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran, reactions were divided.

"The Americans are testing the waters," said travel agent Moufeed Shbeir. "Obama is trying to take a different route than Bush, but we'll have to wait and see the results: are they going to bomb Iran?"

In non-Arab Iran, the head of North American Studies at Tehran University said Obama should have gone to the largest Muslim nation in the world - Indonesia - to address Muslims.

"I personally think Obama has made a mistake by choosing Saudi Arabia and Egypt. I don't think this is going to go down well in the Muslim and Arab world," Sayed Mohammad Marandi told AFP.

"Symbolically speaking, he could have gone somewhere like Indonesia," he said.

Saudi Arabia's Al-Riyadh newspaper warned Muslims against having high expectations. "The Islamic world should not think that Obama is coming to be an ally or a supporter," an editorial said.

United Arab Emirates Vice President Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum warned Obama that the worsening economic situation would strengthen extremism in the Islamic world.

"Those young men, who are increasingly bored (due to growing unemployment), will be easy prey for those promoting extremism and hostility, mainly against the United States," he wrote in Al-Khaleej.

Beirut-based analyst Paul Salem, who heads the Carnegie Middle East Centre, said he expected Arabs to be disappointed by Obama's speech.

"What they want him to say is more than what he's going to say," he said.

"They want him to say that he's going to come down hard on the Israelis, that he's going to confront the settlement policy and that he's going to push the Israelis to withdraw from the West Bank.

"Of course that is what every Arab would like to hear."

On the streets of Cairo, which were getting a facelift ahead of Obama's speech, citizens were more concerned about traffic jams than regional diplomacy on Wednesday.

"What's he going to do for us? Lower the price of bread? If he does, then he's welcome here," said 38-year-old cafe worker Ahmed Abdel Salam.

New Zealand named world's most peaceful nation ...

2009-06-04T01:25:00.003+02:00

New Zealand is the world's most peaceful country, according to a newly published global survey.

By Paul Chapman, Wellington, 3 Jun 2009

The South Pacific nation of four million people and 40 million sheep has knocked Iceland off its perch after violent demonstrations followed the collapse of Reykjavik's banking system.

The Global Peace Index, a report prepared for the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranks 144 countries in a league table of peacefulness.

The index defines peace as "the absence of violence".

Twenty-three criteria on which the league table is compiled include political stability, risk of terrorism, murder rate, likelihood of violent demonstrations, respect for human rights, internal conflicts, arms imports and involvement in foreign wars.

It will be a source of quiet satisfaction for New Zealanders that Australia, their great rival across the Tasman Sea, managed to score only 19th place.

Nordic countries Denmark and Norway took their accustomed positions near the top of the table.

Britain, by comparison, was 35th, slightly higher than last year but one place below Botswana and one higher than Italy. Britain also ranks below most of the rest of Europe.

The United States came 83rd, dragged down by two foreign wars, a high prison population, and the wide availability of guns.

Its position did, however, mark a rise of six places, attributed to the number of years that have passed since 9/11 without suffering another terrorist attack.

Iraq was last for the third of the three years since the index was launched.

The report says the global economic recession and an increase in violent conflict and political instability around the planet took a toll on world peacefulness in 2008.

Clyde McConaghy of the Institute for Economics and Peace said: "Peace is a concrete aim that can be measured and valued, not just in social terms but in economic terms.

"There is a clear correlation between the economic crisis and the decline in peace."

In New Zealand, the report says last year's election of a Centre-Right government "with a strong popular mandate and a robust parliamentary majority" was a factor contributing to peacefulness.

Analysts also attribute the country's relative racial harmony in part to a now well-established institutional system for addressing historic Maori grievances.

Professor Kevin Clements, of Otago University in Dunedin, said: "The index is a pretty good reflection of countries people want to live in, because on bicultural issues and a variety of factors we are scoring well.

"If you look at the top 20, they are all small nations based on strong welfare principles, all with good and relatively uncorrupt governance."

Top 10 most peaceful nations: 1 New Zealand, 2 Denmark, 3 Norway, 4 Iceland, 5 Austria, 6 Sweden, 7 Japan, 8 Canada, 9 Finland, 10 Slovenia.

Ten least peaceful: 1 Iraq, 2 Afghanistan, 3 Somalia, 4 Israel, 5 Sudan, 6 Democratic Republic of the Congo, 7 Chad, 8 Pakistan, 9 Russia, 10 Zimbabwe.

Wall Street Blues: From Ordering Steak and Lobster, to Serving It ...

2009-06-03T13:34:00.003+02:00

By Mary Pilon, 1 June, 2009
Provided by The Wall Street Journal

Carlos Araya used to order lobster, filet mignon and $200 bottles of red wine at the Palm Restaurant in midtown Manhattan.

Now, he seats customers at its Tribeca branch.

Mr. Araya, 38 years old, lost his job in 2007 as a crude oil trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange. After visiting dozens of headhunters with no luck, he applied in August 2008 to be a host at the Palm to support his wife, two young daughters and mortgage payments.

His salary has plunged from $200,000 to $25,000.

If the financial crisis was the flood, then the Arayas are one of the families standing in the stagnant waters left behind. Some former Wall Street employees, highly trained and accustomed to comfortable salaries, are having trouble translating their specialized skills to other fields that pay well, and instead find themselves forced to accept low-wage work. Now, Mr. Araya is on the brink of losing it all and is doubtful that he will ever return to Wall Street.

And he isn't alone. Nearly 25,000 jobs have been lost in New York City's financial sector since August 2007, according to the New York State Department of Labor. The finance industry in New York is expected to lose 56,800 jobs from the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2012, according to projections from the Independent Budget Office, a publicly funded information agency.

John Carbonaro was let go as a floor clerk by Bank of America in January 2009, and despite his job-hunting efforts, remains a "Mr. Mom." Joe Morrone, a laid-off trading clerk from Prudential, has been unemployed for two years and struggles to support his daughters and grandson. He has had stints as a deli worker, a doorman and a bouncer. "I used to have three cars," Mr. Morrone says. "Now I share one."

The result is an unlikely stream of erstwhile Wall Street pros needing help.

"I've got 'em all -- Lehman, AIG, Citi," says Bob Townley, head of Manhattan Youth in Tribeca, an organization that gave the Arayas financial assistance to pay for childcare while they are working. "I can hear it in a parent's voice when there's trouble. Others are too proud to ask for help."

Many of these parents once made donations to Mr. Townley's program. Now they are asking for aid to pay for their kids. Mr. Araya's daughters, ages 6 and 7, are in an after-school program at Mr. Townley's center.

Nowadays, during Mr. Araya's late nights at the Palm, reminders of his old life crop up when former colleagues come in. Some are encouraging and offer hugs. Others sneer, he says. "The way they look at you, you know they're thinking negatively," he says. Some are laid-off like him, and ask if the restaurant is hiring.

As a host, Mr. Araya wears a suit and tie. He's on his feet most of the day, either escorting guests to tables or manning the podium at the front, answering phone calls, managing reservations on the computer and fielding orders from wait staff and managers.

Although he's thankful for the work at the Palm, paydays can be bittersweet. "At the end of the week, I get my paycheck," he says, "and I think, 'I used to make this much in a day.' "

Mr. Araya's wife, Dennise, has gone back to work as an administrative assistant for a construction company and leaves home at 6 a.m. Mr. Araya often works until one or two in the morning and on weekends, leaving little time for the family to be together. He calls his daughters every night during his break at the restaurant on his cellphone to say good night.

Mr. Araya is now the one who gets his children ready for school. He's learned to tie pony tails, inadvertently shrunk sweaters in the wash and knows which grocery store has the best price on milk.

The Arayas stopped dining out, pulled their daughters out of ballet and tumbling classes, and dropped cable television - even though the flat screen he bought when they first moved in still sits in the living room.

Last month, for the first time, the Arayas didn't make a mortgage payment. Their savings are almost depleted. The mortgage, taxes and fees for the family's condo cost $6,200. Combined, he and Denise bring in $4,000 a month. Three months ago, he and his wife applied to restructure their mortgage. The bank told them it is still processing the request. They fear foreclosure and bankruptcy.

Recently, their oldest daughter asked her father if the family would have to move. He told her he didn't know. She countered: "How much money do we need?"

"The way she looked at me," Mr. Araya says, "I could tell she was counting the money in her piggy bank." He went into the bathroom and cried. After a few minutes, he dried his eyes and walked back into the living room.

Mr. Araya, the son of a cab driver, grew up in a working-class neighborhood in nearby Queens. Like thousands of New Yorkers, he used a Wall Street job to vault into a comfortable lifestyle that included his apartment -- bought for $960,000 four years ago -- in Manhattan's Battery Park City neighborhood and family vacations to Cabo San Lucas, Disneyland and Las Vegas.

The Arayas purchased the condo in 2005 with a 20% down payment and a pre-construction price. The proximity of the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment to the trading pit allowed Mr. Araya to spend more time with his family and less time commuting. Ms. Araya diligently managed the family budget with Excel charts to ensure that they had no credit card debt, good credit histories even an emergency fund saved over five years that is now depleted. Mr. Araya says he would be lucky to find a buyer and break even on the apartment now.

Mr. Araya dropped out of college in 1992 to work in the pits, where he quickly advanced from runner to trader. He shifted between large firms like J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and smaller shops like Aren Brokerage Service, the firm that eventually laid him off.

A wrestler in high school, he was known for elbowing his way through the loud commodities pits. Nights were late; mornings began at 4:30 am, fueled by coffee.

"You'd clock in and just try to kill each other till the bell rang," he says.

He had a knack for the Merc job. He could gauge from the roar of traders' voices how the market was faring. He gained loyal clients, and was confident enough to engage in profane shouting matches with them on the phone.

Every day lately, he spends two hours online, trolling job Web sites like Monster.com and e-mailing former colleagues. The leads have dried up, since some of them are laid off themselves. He's contacted headhunters, been on a dozen interviews in the last year and a half, but nothing has come of them.

"It was a hard reality at first," he says. "I used to see unemployed people and think they were lazy, that it was all on them. Now it's happened to me."

Britain's first "twinjury" ...

2009-06-02T22:17:00.009+02:00

Above: Specially padded lamp post to protect twits from cracking their skulls open (LOL)

James of Bristol, England became the laughing stock of the office after he got a black eye while using Twitter on the go.

James' story illustrates tidily what so many people hate about the microblogging service [especially me]: Narcissistically documenting one's life all too often interferes with leading said life.

In James' case, reality literally smacked him on the head. He was jogging to work and tweeting on his BlackBerry when he cracked his skull against a low-hanging branch.

"One minute I was running along posting a tweet, the next I was lying on my back on the pavement in agony. The branch came out of nowhere and hit me in the face."

James suffered what the Telegraph newspaper calls Britain's first "twinjury."

[Watch out for lamp posts! Not all of them have padding.]

600ft [182.88 meters] jellyfish crop circle found in Oxfordshire field in England ...

2009-06-02T21:45:00.008+02:00

Above: The jellyfish crop circle measures 600ft across

Report from Telegraph.co.uk

A 600ft [182.88 meters] jellyfish pattern has appeared in a barley field in Kingstone Coombes, Oxfordshire, in what is one of the most intriguing crop circles ever seen in Britain.

The vast pattern appeared in the field last week and experts are claiming it to be the first of its kind in the world.

Karen Alexander, a crop circle expert, said: "We have seen butterfly and bird patterns in the past, but this is the first jellyfish crop circle in the world.

"It is absolutely huge - roughly three times the size of most crop patterns and extremely interesting. People have been aghast at the size of it. It is a complete monster.

"We are looking into the meaning of it, but at present it just seems to have appeared out of nowhere."

Crop circle theorists known as 'croppies' - believe the patterns are created by UFOs during nocturnal visits, or caused by natural phenomena such as unusual forms of lightning striking the earth.

Last year a crop circle (below) described as the most complex ever to seen in Britain was discovered in a barley field in Wiltshire.

The formation, measuring 150ft in diameter, was a coded image representing the first 10 digits, 3.141592654, of pi.

Michael Reed, an astrophysicist, said: "The tenth digit has even been correctly rounded up. The little dot near the centre is the decimal point.

"The code is based on 10 angular segments with the radial jumps being the indicator of each segment.

"Starting at the centre and counting the number of one-tenth segments in each section contained by the change in radius clearly shows the values of the first 10 digits in the value of pi."

You know you’ve been living in Spain long enough when ...

2009-06-02T13:42:00.003+02:00

... you find yourself doing (or thinking) the following:

1) When asked to do something, your first answer is: “mañana”

2) Coming home at three in the morning is early, six the norm - even if you are 40 or 50.

3) You're not just surprised that the plumber/decorator/electrician/carpenter has turned up on time, you're surprised he turned up at all.

4) You know a 50-year-old man whose mother still does his laundry.

5) You think it's fine to comment on everyone's appearance.

6) Life is broken down into 'possible' and 'impossible'.

7) You plan your weekends around the siesta.

8) All your answers are prefaced with: “Yes, but...”

9) You know the time after lunch has its own word - sobremesa.

10) You no longer wait for the waiter to clean the table before sitting down.

11) The imperative is used to ask for things, and ‘please’ and ‘thanks’ are used sparingly.

12) Nothing is ever your fault anymore.

14) There's a neighbor who likes drilling and hammering, but only between eight and ten on a Saturday and Sunday morning.

15) Every sentence you speak, even in your native language, contains at least one of these words: ‘bueno’, 'coño', 'vale', 'venga', 'pues nada' ...

16) The question: "How are you?" is a chance to complain about your day.

17) A beer or two with lunch during the week isn't anything out of the ordinary.

18) Free time is more important than money.

19) You eat lunch after 2pm and would never even think of having your evening meal before 9pm.

20) Breakfast is a coffee and a small sandwich or a croissant.

21) You know what a Catalan is ...

The German Year ...

2009-06-02T12:27:00.007+02:00

The following article was originally published on www.thelocal.de on 21 May 2009

As Germany prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its democratic rebirth on Saturday 23 May, Marc Young of 'The Local' (Germany's news in English) explores the impact of the crumbing Iron Curtain (and three defeated Roman legions) on modern German society.

A slew of big anniversaries have conspired to make 2009 a truly German year.

Though the fall of the Berlin Wall two decades ago is sure to grab most of the headlines, two other historic events are just as important to anyone hoping to grasp what it means to be German these days.

This Saturday, the country will celebrate the creation of West Germany’s constitution 60 years ago. More than anything, the signing of the Grundgesetz, or 'Basic Law' as the document is known, symbolised the country’s democratic rebirth from the ashes of World War II.

However, half of the country spent the next 40 years under the yoke of a communist dictatorship, which is why Chancellor Angela Merkel – herself raised in East Germany – is hoping to twin the anniversary of the founding of the democratic Federal Republic of Germany with the collapse of the Iron Curtain 20 years ago on November 9, 1989.

“Only the peaceful revolution of 1989 paved the way for reunification of our nation in peace and freedom,” Merkel said this week.

But the government is still hoping to turn the Basic Law celebrations this weekend into a big outdoor party of the kind that the Germans do so well. A Bürgerfest, or Citizens Festival, near Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate will bring together a heady Teutonic mix of food, music and praise for all that is good about modern Germany.

Though it might be hard to get people excited about a document written by old men long since dead, the Basic Law set the foundation for the essence of present day Germanness. Avoiding a strong centralised state after the horrifying experience of Nazi dictatorship, the federal republic bolstered the country’s already strong regional nature.

According to Paul Kohtes, chairman of the Düsseldorf-based Identity Foundation, Germans are now much more at ease with who they are, but they probably still think of themselves as Bavarians, Rhinelanders and Berliners first, and Germans second.

A survey released by his organisation last month showed that 60% of Germans were proud of their country – a figure unthinkable only a few years ago.

As I wrote back in 2006, hosting the World Cup became a watershed event as Germans openly begin to feel good about being German again.

But just because many people no longer shy away from healthy black, red and gold patriotism these days, doesn’t mean that people fail to put their regional loyalties first.

“The German mentality is still more federal than national,” Kohtes told public broadcaster RBB on Thursday.

Of course, such a complicated form of twinned national-local patriotism didn’t simply sprout from the fertile federalism of the Basic Law in 1949. No, a third important anniversary being remembered in 2009 highlights just how far back the roots of the modern German identity stretch.

None other than 'Hermann the German' – also known by the more elegant Latin moniker Arminius – is being honoured this year for defeating three Roman legions in what is now North Rhine-Westphalia 2,000 years ago.

Were it not for his epic victory in the Teutoburg Forest against Publius Quinctilius Varus in 9 AD, Rome might have extended its control over Germania and the fractious peoples living there.

Although he provided 19th-century proponents of a unified German nation with a hero for their cause, Hermann himself never managed to overcome the regional differences still common to the country today.

And somehow that seems rather fitting in this year of particularly important Teutonic anniversaries.

“In many ways we’re still a collection of different Germanic tribes from the woods,” said the Identity Foundation’s Kohtes.

Above: Arminius, also known as Armin or Hermann (18/17 BCE - AD 21) was a chieftain of the Cherusci who defeated a Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. His tribal coalition against the Roman Empire successfully blocked the efforts of Germanicus, nephew of Emperor Tiberius, to reconquer the Germanic territories east of the Rhine - a victory that had a far-reaching effect on the subsequent history of both the ancient Germanic tribes, of the Roman Empire, and ultimately, of Europe.

"Spiderman" scales Sydney tower in climate campaign ...

2009-06-02T11:17:00.008+02:00

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!)

The French climber known as "Spiderman" scaled a 41-story Sydney tower with his bare hands on Tuesday to draw attention to climate change ... and was arrested.

Hundreds of people gathered at Aurora Place, craning their necks to watch Alain Robert, who has climbed more than 80 skyscrapers around the world, haul himself to the top of the Renzo Piano-designed office building in only about 10 minutes.

Police arrested Robert, 46, after the illegal climb, but not before the Frenchman had unfurled a banner advertising the green group One Hundred Months.

The group, backed by Greenpeace and many other lobby groups, says the world has 100 months to take action on climate change or face the irreversible consequences of global warming.

Robert's more famous climbing conquests include Chicago's Sears Tower and Taipei 101 in Taiwan.

(Reporting by Cecile Lefort and Tim Wimborne)

Two stupid UK mothers sell pies and hamburgers to pupils to defy Jamie Oliver's healthy school meals scheme ...

2009-05-31T14:24:00.009+02:00

He managed to persuade the Government to part with £220 million to improve school dinners.

But Jamie Oliver failed to convince two mothers who are now leading a junk food rebellion.

Instead of supporting his scheme to introduce healthier meals, they are running a delivery service offering fish and chips, hamburgers and soda drinks.

Julie Critchlow, 43, and Samantha Walker, 41, launched their "meals on wheels service" for school kids who they say are not interested in "low fat rubbish" served up at lunchtimes.

The mothers said that they would resist calls for them to be banned and insist that children should be given a choice to eat what they want.

Mrs Critchlow, whose daughter Rachel,15, and 11-year-old son Steven are both pupils at the school, said: "We go up at break time and take down the orders through the school fence. We then go back at 1pm to deliver the food and give them their change.

"We are now delivering around 50 to 60 meals a day and we have no intention of stopping."

The mothers launched their fast food campaign when the children returned to school from the summer vacation to be told that they were not allowed to leave the premises at lunchtime.

"It meant they couldn't go to the local takeaways," said Mrs Critchlow.

"They don't enjoy the school food, and as a result, they were left starving, so we had to do something about it.

"We just buy the food from the local takeaway and pass it onto the children who give us the money."

She insisted that her children ate a balanced diet at home, adding: "I prepare a meal every night and we have a varied diet.

"We eat meat and at the moment in my freezer you would find chicken, chops, mince and Chinese belly pork.

"I don't know what my kids weigh but its not always down to what they eat, it's as much to do with their genes."

Mrs Walker, whose 11-year-old son John also goes to the school, said: "This is all down to Jamie Oliver. He is forcing our kids to become more picky about their food.

"Who does he think he is being all high and mighty? He can feed whatever he wants to his kids, but he should realise that other parents think differently." [Actually, it's only stupid parents who think differently!]

A spokesman for Jamie Oliver said, "If these mums want to effectively shorten the lives of their kids and others kids, then that's down to them.

Under UK government guidelines, all schools must now serve children at least two servings of fruit and vegetables per day, oily fish every three weeks, bread every day, no more than two portions of deep fried food each week, along with nuts and seeds, with no salt, fat or sugar.

It comes after Oliver's nationwide campaign last year to remove junk food from all school menus.

His claim that British school dinners were the "laughing stock of Europe" sparked a major public debate and ministers made plans to encourage healthier eating.

[Well done, Jamie! Shame on you, idiot parents! You should be arrested!]

Foot note: This happened in 2006. The two idiot mothers have been stopped now.

The obesity noose ...

2009-05-31T13:50:00.003+02:00

Canon employees are forbidden to sit down or walk at normal pace ...

2009-05-31T13:24:00.002+02:00

You might think that your job sucks, but at least your boss isn't crazy enough to remove all the chairs and install alarms that go off if you don't walk fast enough.

The president of Canon Electronics, Hisashi Sakamaki, belives that forcing employees to stand not only saves money, but also increases productivity and enhances employee relationships.

In the hallway, if an employee walks slower than 5 meters every 3.6 seconds, an alarm and flashing lights go off, reminding workers that they are being inefficient.

Even better, there's a sign on the floor in the hallways that reads "Let's rush: If we don't, the company and world will perish."

[I think it's a great idea LOL]

Absolutely perverse!!! The Queen of England gets a Gold Plated Wii ...

2009-05-31T11:05:00.010+02:00

THQ, the games company, have apparently presented the Queen of England [who, due to the current recession, was down to her last penny] with her very own Gold Plated Nintendo Wii.

[Apparently, the 21.8% of the UK population who live below 60% median income - in other words, close to poverty - are delighted for her.]

The Royal Wii was specially commissioned for the launch of THQ's latest game: BIG Family Games.

As well as getting a gold plated Wii, the queen also received one of the first copies of the game.

BIG Family Games is designed for all ages [and poverty levels] and features 24 unique games that are all from classic ranges such as tennis, golf, lawn darts, horseshoes and more.

The company said, "We thought that Her Majesty wouldn’t want to play on any old console, so an extra-special gold one was commissioned. We hope that she and the rest of the Royal Family enjoy the game!"

[Assholes! I suppose gold plated tupperware will be next on the list!]

Brainless, drunken, racist Bavarian beats East German tourist with a live swan ...

2009-05-30T11:43:00.008+02:00

After an afternoon of heavy drinking near the banks of the river Isar, Sebastian P. from Munich in southern Germany took offence at an east German tourist's accent and shouted "Piss off you eastern pig, they should rebuild the Wall right up to the sky because of you."

He then grabbed a swan by its neck and swung it like a club at his victim.

The assailant has been given a two-year suspended sentence as a result of the attack, which resulted in minor injuries to the victim (who was also threatened with a variety of other objects including a burning barbeque).

[Thankfully, the swan managed to fly away unhurt and was not turned into a Bavarian sausage.]

A man from Ohio has pleaded not guilty after being charged with disorderly conduct for mowing the unkempt grass in a public park ...

2009-05-30T10:39:00.005+02:00

Sandusky, Ohio, USA

John Hamilton plans to fight the charges against him.

Authorities arrested Hamilton at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday as the 48-year-old was mowing the foot-high grass in the city park. Police charged him with obstructing official business and persistent disorderly conduct.

He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. His next hearing is scheduled for August.

"I am a citizen," he said.

[There is a strong possibility that if found guilty, Hamilton will be sentenced to community service - mowing the lawn in the park!]

As many as 10 or 15 people in the USA [that's definitely pandemic!] might die needlessly before a swine flu vaccine is ready in October ...

2009-05-29T18:26:00.024+02:00

Above: Guilty Pig (you can see it in his eyes).

The Washington Post, May 29, 2009.

A U.S. health official said that a swine flu vaccine could be available as early as October, but only if production and testing run smoothly throughout the summer.

There have been more than 8,500 probable and confirmed cases in the United States [what on earth does that mean ... "probable" and "confirmed"!?].

Meanwhile, health officials in an Illinois county said that a 42-year-old man has died from complications of swine flu. Apparently the unfortunate victim had other medical problems as well [which seems to be the case in all swine flu-related deaths].

The man is the third person in the state to die from swine flu.

[In the USA alone, around 33,000 people die from gun shot wounds every year. So far this year there have been approximately 5,297 drunk driving deaths in America. Between 92,130 and 100,588 people - civilians and soldiers - have been killed in Iraq since the war began ... and that's a very conservative estimate. Swine flu is the least of our problems!]

Very stupid man calls 911 over bad service at McDonald's ...

2009-05-29T15:11:00.008+02:00

An Oregon man spent a day in jail after dialing 911 to complain that a McDonald's worker was rude to him and didn't give him an orange juice he ordered.

Sheriff's Sgt. David Thompson said Raibin Osman ignored deputies who told him that the emergency number shouldn't be used for straightening out fast-food orders.

[And North Korea is threatening to blow up the planet!]

Idiot smashes cash machine after it 'swallows' his card ...

2009-05-29T11:45:00.005+02:00

A bank customer in the UK was so frustrated when a Lloyds TSB cash machine swallowed his card that he dialled 999 and then threw a brick at the screen.

Mark Britten had already tried two other ATMs by the time he got to the Lloyds TSB machine and was denied cash yet again.

The 45-year-old said: "I was incensed by it all. I wanted the police to shut the machine down so it wouldn't happen to anyone else, but they said they were too busy, so I smashed it with a brick."

Britten said that he would "smash every bank machine in the town", but he eventually pleaded guilty to criminal damage.

Apparently Britten has a number of medical issues, but is now on the right level of medication.

[Yeah, right!]

Neighbor dispute over killer dog ends with 5 people shot and 1 dead (this could only happen in the US of A) ...

2009-05-28T21:36:00.012+02:00

Above: Zombie Dog ... [Would you want this thing hanging around your neighborhood?]

Reporter: Jonathan Lowe

LENOIR, N.C. -- The Caldwell County Sheriff's Office and state agents are investigating after five people were shot, one fatally, Wednesday night.

The shooting began around 11 p.m. at two homes on Grandin Road near Blue Creek Road in an area called Kings Creek, north of Lenoir.

Officials say it started as an argument when one man’s dog killed his neighbor’s cat. The neighbor then shot the dog, prompting the dog’s owner to shoot his 50-year-old neighbor and the neighbor’s 8-year-old daughter. They are in fair and good condition, respectively.

"My daughter was across the road,” said Tammie Roberts, a neighbor of the shooter. “When she walked across the road, she heard the first gunshot."

"It was very terrifying hearing all the gunshots," she added, saying her family took cover.

When sheriff’s deputies came out to investigate, the man who shot the father and daughter began shooting at them. One deputy was hit multiple times and was flown to Carolinas Medical Center for treatment. He is expected to be released Friday.

Another deputy was hit in the arm. He was treated at a nearby hospital and released.

Deputies eventually moved in on the shooter, and more shots were fired, resulting in the suspect’s death. Sheriff's officials believe he was struck in the gunfire.

Deputy B.J. Fore says this incident was a painful reminder of other tragic events of the past year.

"We've had six officers shot over the last eight months," he said.

Two Caldwell County sheriff's deputies were shot on Sept. 19, 2008 while responding to a 911 hang-up call. Deputy Adam Klutz was killed in that shooting. Eight days earlier, two other deputies were shot serving a warrant in the Happy Valley area, near Boone. Both of those deputies survived.

No names have been released in the incident.

Resumés [like people] are getting dumber ...

2009-05-27T14:43:00.003+02:00

by Jane Porter for The Wall Street Journal
Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Kristin Konopka sent out nearly 100 copies of her résumé in January in search of receptionist work, but got only one callback. That's when Ms. Konopka, a 29-year-old New York actress and yoga teacher, took her master's degree and academic teaching experience off her résumé.

The calls started coming in. The slimmer version of her résumé landed in 30 in-boxes and earned her three callbacks and two interviews. "It definitely picked up the interest," says Ms. Konopka, who realized quickly that people don't "want to hire anyone who is overqualified."

Securing work in a tight economy means more job seekers might find themselves applying for positions below their qualifications. Many unemployed professionals are willing to take paycuts for the promise of a paycheck. But to get a foot in the door, candidates are gearing down their résumés by hiding advanced degrees, changing too-lofty titles, shortening work experience descriptions, and removing awards and accolades.

In the past eight months, Jamaica Eilbes, an information-technology recruiter for Milwaukee employment agency Manpower, has had to weed out more overqualified résumés than usual from the stacks that cross her desk each day. "I'd never feel comfortable putting a really high-level candidate into a lower level position," says Ms. Eilbes, who recruits for Manpower and other clients. "We don't want to take you on if we think you are going to jump ship."

But in recent months, Ms. Eilbes has seen more master's and doctoral degrees at the bottom of résumés instead of at the top. She's also seen candidates omitting or trimming job descriptions that showed they had substantial years of work experience. Résumés on which job descriptions taper off as they progress down the page raise Ms. Eilbes's suspicions. "How do I know I can trust them later down the road if there's something on their résumé they decided to take off so they could have a better chance at getting that job?" she says.

Still, for some professionals who find themselves constantly rejected despite decades of experience, scaling back the truth -- or at the least, some of their experiences -- can feel like the only chance at an interview.

Lenora Kaplan, 49, has 26 years of marketing experience but doesn't want her résumé to show it. When she lost her job as vice president of public relations at a small Las Vegas marketing firm in January, Ms. Kaplan searched for work with little success. At an interview for a shopping-mall marketing-director position in February, she was told that the hiring budget had only enough for a junior-level employee and that her résumé showed she was overqualified.

Many of the jobs she comes across ask for far fewer years of experience than she has. "There is nothing to apply for" at my level, Ms. Kaplan says. She quickly realized her job experience was pricing her out of too many positions. Her solution: To try not to look as senior level as she really was. So she eliminated certain jobs and removed details about speaking engagements and board positions.

In some cases, job seekers are being told by hiring agencies to tone down their résumés if they want to get hired. When Bridget Lee, 29, moved to New York from Shanghai eight months ago and put her application in at three temporary agencies, she was told to play down her work experience before they would send her résumé to potential clients. The temp-agency version of her résumé changed titles like "manager" and "freelance trend researcher" to "staff" and "office support" and omitted entirely her title as partner of a small marketing agency. "It's been a lesson for how I present myself," Ms. Lee says.

Career counselors advise against making too many drastic changes. But they also say the demand for this kind of restructuring is on the rise. In the past three months, Tammy Kabell, a Kansas City, Mo., job-search coach, says more clients are requesting her help to "dumb down" their résumés, whether by changing job titles, playing down experience, or altogether omitting some impressive achievements. One recent client, a 61-year-old former chief learning officer at a tech company, insisted on omitting her C-level job title from her résumé. She was fearful her application would be weeded out by the Web search-optimization tools companies use to manage résumés.

Some résumé writers advise reworking a résumé into a functional one stressing transferable skills instead of past job titles and accomplishments. "Instead of focusing on the big achievements that might scare an employer away, you can spell out what you can bring to an employer in the next position," Ms. Kabell says.

Of course, reducing your résumé to a skeleton of what it truly should be isn't likely to land you the job you really want. While it took Ms. Lee eight months to get a call back for a job that matched her real experience, this month she landed a position as a temporary account manager -- with potential for permanent work -- at a New York design firm. The interview and job offer weren't earned using her dumbed-down résumé, but rather with the original.

"You have to make those creative edits when it comes to short-term work, but in terms of long-term work, you have to stay true to your experience," says Ms. Lee.

US wants to paint the world white to save energy ...

2009-05-27T00:51:00.004+02:00

LONDON(AFP) (AFP) – US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Tuesday the Obama administration wanted to paint roofs an energy-reflecting white, as he took part in a climate change symposium in London.

The Nobel laureate in physics called for a "new revolution" in energy generation to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

But he warned there was no silver bullet for tackling climate change, and said a range of measures should be introduced, including painting flat roofs white.

Making roads and roofs a paler colour could have the equivalent effect of taking every car in the world off the road for 11 years, Chu said.

It was a geo-engineering scheme that was "completely benign" and would keep buildings cooler and reduce energy use from air conditioning, as well as reflecting sunlight back away from the Earth.

For people who found white hard on the eye, scientists had also developed "cool colours" which looked to the human eye like normal ones, but reflect heat like pale colours even if they are darker shades.

And painting cars in cool or light colours could deliver considerable savings on energy use for air conditioning units, he said.

Speaking at the start of a symposium on climate change hosted by the Prince of Wales and attended by more than 20 Nobel laureates, Chu said fresh thinking was required to cut the amount of carbon created by power generation.

He said: "The industrial revolution was a revolution in the use of energy. It offloaded from human and animal power into using fossil fuels.

"We have to go to a different new revolution that can severely decrease the amount of carbon emissions in the generation of energy."

[My opinion: this is an excellent idea]

Atheists target UK schools (and about time, too!) ...

2009-05-24T14:28:00.009+02:00

Atheists are targeting schools in a campaign designed to challenge Christian societies, collective worship and religious education.

The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies (AHS) plans to launch a recruitment drive this summer.

Backed by professor Richard Dawkins and Anthony Grayling, the initiative aims to establish a network of atheist societies in schools to counter the role of Christianity.

It will coincide with the first atheist summer camp for children that will teach that religious belief and doctrines can prevent ethical and moral behaviour.

The federation aims to encourage students to lobby their schools and local authorities over what is taught in RE lessons and to call for daily acts of collective worship to be scrapped. It wants the societies to hold talks and educational events to persuade students not to believe in God.

Chloë Clifford-Frith, AHS co-founder, said that the societies would act as a direct challenge to the Christian message being taught in schools.

She expressed concern that Christian Unions could influence vulnerable teenagers looking for a club to belong to with fundamentalist doctrine.

In particular, she claimed that some students were being told that homosexuality is a sin and to believe the Biblical account of creation.

"We want to point out how silly some of these beliefs are and hope that these groups will help to do that," she said.

The federation's bid to improve co-ordination among atheists in schools follows a successful campaign at universities.

The number of groups reported by the AHS to be active on campuses has risen from seven in 2007/2008 academic year to 25 in 2008/2009, including societies at the universities of Oxford and Durham.

Leeds Atheist Society claims to have experienced discrimination, vandalism, theft and death threats from religious groups on campus who oppose the open expression of an atheist viewpoint and blasphemy.

Anthony Grayling, Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, said: "As well as making the case for reason and science, it is great to know that the AHS will be standing up against religious privilege and discrimination.

"The AHS shows that increasing numbers of young people are unwilling to put up with it."

Simon Calvert of the Christian Institute said: "Atheists are becoming increasingly militant in their desperate [LOL] attempts to stamp out faith. It is deeply worrying that they now want to use children to attack the Christian ethos of their schools.

"Many parents will also be anxious at the thought of militant atheists targeting their children."

[What he's really saying is that many religious control-freaks will be anxious because their children will finally learn the truth about the god myth.]

In a further development to strengthen the role of atheism among the younger generation, the first summer camp for irreligious [bad choice of words. He should have said 'non-religious] children, or the children of nontheistic parents, is being held this summer.

Organisers say that Camp Quest, which originated in America, offers "a godless alternative to traditional religious summer camps, such as vacation Bible schools".

Finally common sense prevails: Cigarette makers lose appeal in landmark case ...

2009-05-23T01:20:00.004+02:00

NEDRA PICKLER of AP reports on Friday, May 22

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court on Friday agreed with the major elements of a 2006 landmark ruling that found the nation's top tobacco companies guilty of racketeering and fraud for deceiving the public about the dangers of smoking.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington upheld requirements that manufacturers change the way they market cigarettes. The requirements, which have been on hold pending appeal, would ban labels such as "low tar," "light," "ultra light" or "mild," since such cigarettes have been found to be no safer than others because of how people smoke them.

It also says the companies must publish "corrective statements" in newspapers and on their Web sites on the adverse health effects and addictiveness of smoking and nicotine.

Throughout the 10 years the case has been litigated, tobacco companies have denied committing fraud in the past and said changes in how cigarettes are sold now make it impossible for them to act fraudulently in the future. The companies have argued the ban on labels like "light" would cost them hundreds of millions of dollars.

Philip Morris USA and its parent company, Altria Group Inc., said they will appeal to the Supreme Court.

Read full article here

Perhaps it was only destiny that something called Swine Flu would have a special love for extremely overweight people ... ...

2009-05-20T18:21:00.005+02:00

Survey Finds Link Between Obesity and Flu Severity.

By David Brown and Robin Shulman, Washington Post Staff Writers.

A survey of people hospitalized because of swine flu in California has raised the possibility that obesity is as much of a risk factor for serious complications from the flu as diabetes, heart disease and pregnancy, all known to raise a person's risk.

In all, about two-thirds of the California patients had some underlying medical condition, according to a report yesterday in the weekly bulletin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nationwide, 47 states and the District have reported 5,469 cases and six deaths since the start of the outbreak in late April, according to the CDC's count. Yesterday, officials in Missouri reported a seventh U.S. death -- that of a 44-year-old man who had no underlying medical problems, wire services reported.

"We were surprised by the frequency of obesity among the severe cases that we've been tracking," said Anne Schuchat, one of the CDC epidemiologists managing the outbreak. She said scientists are "looking into" the possibility that obese people should be at the head of the line along with other high-risk groups if a swine flu vaccine becomes available.

Other studies have shown that pregnant women are also at higher risk for serious influenza infection, especially in the third trimester, when the fetus and womb compress the lower parts of the lungs. This makes it harder to breathe deeply and cough forcefully; it may also alter blood flow in the chest. A similar thing may be occurring in severely overweight people, some experts speculated.

Full story here

Oxford scientists waste £300,000 to discover that ducks like water. Still no cure for cancer ...

2009-05-20T17:52:00.008+02:00

Oxford University [unsuccessfully] attempts to defend three years of ridiculously expensive research that resulted in the obvious!

By Steven Morris of The Guardian

The assumption has always been that rainy weather is good for ducks. Now a three-year study funded to the tune of £300,000 by the taxpayer has proved it.

Two scientists from the University of Oxford gave a lucky group of farm ducks access to a pond, a water trough and a shower. They discovered that the ducks spent an awful lot of time under the shower, sometimes just standing there, others drinking from it.

Perhaps inevitably, the revelation that ducks seem to enjoy water washing over them has not impressed everyone. Susie Squire of the Taxpayers' Alliance, called the research a "bonkers waste of money".

She said: "It is common sense that ducks like rain and water. The last thing the government should be allocating scarce resources to is this sort of nonsense."

The Devon chairman of the National Farmers Union, Anthony Rew, said the study proved that Defra, the government department that oversees the care of farm animals, was – wait for it – "quackers".

He said: "They need to get out of London and get on a farm to see how the countryside works, to put policies in place that are practical and well costed. If they asked a farmer, he would tell them ducks like water."

It would be wrong to suggest the criticism washed over the scientists and Defra like water off a duck's back – but they did defend it stoutly.

Marian Stamp Dawkins, professor of animal behaviour at Oxford, said many would have expected the ducks to spend most of their time swimming in the pond. In fact, they seemed to prefer the shower to the pond, suggesting they were not very bothered about swimming.

She said it was unfair to portray the study as finding out simply that ducks liked water. It had been carried out to find the best way of providing water to farmed ducks because ponds quickly became dirty, unhygienic and took up a lot of water, making them environmentally questionable.

Defra insisted that the study did go further than just establishing that rainy weather was good for ducks, arguing it was all about making sure that farmed birds were well cared for.

[Idiots!]

Bush cronies land jobs charging for advice on how not to get eaten by the monsters they created

2009-05-20T16:48:00.003+02:00

From USA Today:

More than one in four members of President George W. Bush's Cabinet have landed jobs with consulting or lobbying firms in which they can help clients navigate the departments they once oversaw. Michael Chertoff, who served as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) until January, launched a consulting business two months ago to provide "risk-management advice" [advice on how not to get screwed by the DHS] to private companies and governments.

For the full story (it's worth reading), click here

After the 'Day of Reckoning' arrives, Orlando atheist will deliver messages to those left behind ... (LOL)

2009-05-17T13:41:00.017+02:00

There are those who believe in the 'Rapture' prophesied in the Bible.

And there is Joshua Witter (above), an avowed atheist.

They need each other.

Well, at least those willing to pay Witter to be their post-apocalyptic postman, delivering cards and letters to their non-believing friends, relatives and neighbors who will be left behind when the 'Day of Reckoning' arrives.

About 70 people have already paid the Orlando man about $5 apiece to get their messages to those doomed to face the plagues, pestilence and darkness of Armageddon.

As sure as these 'True Believers' are that they will escape this earth when the 'Rapture' arrives, Witter is just as certain that he will be left behind to deliver their mail. He has even committed blasphemy to make sure.

"Anyway you look at it, I'm screwed. It's too late for me," said Witter, a 24-year-old computer software engineer who wears long sideburns and hip black-framed glasses.

Witter started his website - postrapturepost.com - as a joke; a satiric jab at those who see things like the swine flu, economic collapse and the election of a liberal president as sure signs that the end is near.

But then he started receiving orders for his merchandise. Since 2005, Witter said he has sold more than 200 items, most of them T-shirts and coffee mugs, and many of those to friends and fellow atheists.

Among the best sellers are the line of I-Told-You-So cards, which sell for $8. Some of those who ordered the cards - Witter suspects they are not true Christians - are willing to pay extra to have them sent early as Christmas cards.

Witter doesn't have a stack of cards or letters with Post-Rapture messages in a dresser drawer or safety deposit box. All the messages are stored in his computer, encrypted to protect their privacy and backed up by a fail-safe system. His website might be all in jest, but when it comes to his paying customers, Witter is a responsible entrepreneur. He doesn't share the contents of the messages with his friends over beers, or mock those who take this whole end-of-the-world business seriously.

He does concede, however, that delivering on his promise to hand-deliver the cards and letters entrusted to him may be difficult. Witter has read all the books of the popular "Left Behind" series, so he knows what to expect. Covered with boils, he will have to fight his way through perpetual darkness, clouds of insects, and meteors falling from the sky to deliver the mail.

"Your hope lies with me. I am your mailman," he vows. "I'll do my best, come Hell or high water, to deliver those letters."

On the other hand, should the so-called 'Rapture' not arrive in his lifetime, he gets to keep the money, which he promises to use to subsidize his sinful lifestyle.

And don't even think about asking him to forward a message from the future for free.

"I turn people away who ask for free letters," he said. "I'm not a charity."

[LMAO!!!]

By Jeff Kunerth | Sentinel Staff Writer (with a few grammar improvements by yours truly)

Cat amasses half a million Twitter followers ... (yet further proof that the human species is intrinsically stupid)

2009-05-17T12:07:00.010+02:00

A grey cat with white markings named Sockington has just cruised past the 500,000 follower mark on Twitter. Known as Socks for short, the cat lives near Boston with his human, Jason Scott. Check out this account of the cat's triumph.

As of this morning, 502,110 (very stupid) people (with absolutely nothing better to do) were apparently spellbound by such Tweets from Sockington as:

"and so I slept and then I walked around and then I slept again and then I saw a cobweb..."

I can hardly wait for the next gripping installment!

At least the cat writes better English than most kids these days ... and leads a more exciting life, by the sounds of it! :)

Angry British people ...

2009-05-16T20:55:00.007+02:00

According to a new poll, the British are the angriest people in Europe with most Brits losing their temper four times a day on average.

Queue-jumping gets them most worked up, followed by traffic jams.

Italians, the second most angry, lose their cool 3.5 times a day on average.

The French are third in the poll, while Scandinavians are the most placid.

The top 10 frustrations for the British are:

1 Queue-jumpers.

2 Traffic jams.

3 Rude service in shops.

4 Ill-mannered neighbours.

5 Foreign call centres.

6 Racist and bigoted behaviour.

7 Erratic driving.

8 Swearing in public.

9 Spitting in the street.

10 Badly functioning computers.

Courtesy of the Daily Express

Good News (and about time, too!): Germany to ban paintball in wake of high school shooting

2009-05-09T12:50:00.003+02:00

The German government is to ban paintball in response to the school shooting in which 16 people were killed in March.

Experts from Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and her Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners have agreed to outlaw all games in which players shoot at each other with pellets.

The governing parties say paintball trivialises violence and risks lowering the threshold for committing violent acts.

Infringements to the new rules, which the cabinet hopes to pass before a general election in September, could incur fines of up to 5,000 euros (£4,400).

A 17-year-old shot dead 15 people in the southwestern town of Winnenden, before killing himself in March, stunning many Germans and leading politicians to call for tighter gun rules.

The teenager shot many of his victims in the head with his father's legally registered pistol. His father, a member of a shooting club, had 15 guns at home – fourteen were locked in a gun closet as required by law but the pistol was in the bedroom.

Germany toughened its gun laws in 2002 after Robert Steinhauser, 19, shot dead 16 people before turning the gun on himself at a high school in the eastern German city of Erfurt.

The changes raised the minimum age for gun ownership to 21 from 18 and required gun buyers under 25 to present a certificate of medical and psychological health. Gun laws already required applicants to pass rigorous exams that can take up to a year.

The new rules would also grant authorities more rights in conducting checks with people owning guns, the sources said.

Sources in the SPD said the parties were also moving towards on agreement on the creation of a nationwide weapons register and were considering setting up biometric security locks for weapons' stores.

Telegraph.co.uk

Something to think about ...

2009-05-09T01:00:00.002+02:00

Click on image for larger view

Chuck Norris saves a bakery (LOL)

2009-05-07T22:46:00.003+02:00

A bakery in Split, Croatia, has been broken into almost every week.

But not since the shop owners posted a life-sized photo of the toughest man in Hollywood - Chuck Norris - in the window.

The sign says: “This shop is under the protection of Chuck Norris.”

Now the bakery hasn't had a single burglary for more than a month.

Sales assistant Mirna Kovac said: "To be honest, we just started it as a joke, but it really has worked. Thieves haven't been anywhere near us for ages. People seem to respect him.

"Everyone around here has seen his films and he's quite a popular character, perhaps even among criminals, so they've decided to leave us alone."

She added though: "We have had a few customers come in and ask us whether they can get Chuck's autograph.

“They really believe he is sitting in our storeroom out the back ready to pounce on any burglars."

Quarantine for lonely Afghan pig

2009-05-07T22:19:00.003+02:00

Afghanistan's only known pig has been quarantined because of fears over swine flu, officials from Kabul Zoo say.

The pig, a curiosity in a country where pork products are illegal, lives at the zoo, where he had previously enjoyed grazing next to deer and goats.

However visitors expressed fears that the animal could be carrying the H1N1 virus and he was moved into isolation.

The director of the zoo, Aziz Gul Saqib, says the pig, whose name is Khanzir, is strong and healthy.

Speaking to the BBC World Service, Mr Saqib says: "The only reason we moved him was because Afghan people don't have a lot of knowledge about swine flu, and so when they see a pig they get worried and think they will get ill."

The director says Khanzir, given to the zoo by China in 2002, has been moved to a large space with lots of windows and fresh air and that he hopes he will be quarantined for only a few days.

Acknowledging that being Afghanistan's only pig is a lonely existence, Mr Saqib says he hopes to find Khanzir a female companion soon.

However, he says, because of swine flu, "it is a dangerous and difficult time to get a new pig for our pig".

BBC

The Farthest Explosion Yet Measured

2009-04-29T14:52:00.003+02:00

An explosion so powerful that it was seen clear across the visible universe was recorded in gamma-radiation last week by NASA's orbiting Swift Observatory. Farther than any known galaxy, quasar, or optical supernova, the gamma-ray burst recorded last week was clocked at redshift 8.2, making it the farthest explosion of any type yet detected. Occurring only 630 million years after the [so-called] 'Big Bang', GRB 090423 detonated so early that astronomers had no direct evidence that anything explodable even existed back then. The faint infrared afterglow of GRB 090423 was recovered by large ground telescopes within minutes of being discovered. The afterglow is circled in the above picture taken by the large Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii, USA. An exciting possibility is that this gamma-ray burst occurred in one of the very first generation of stars and announced the birth of an early black hole. Surely, GRB 090423 provides unique data from a relatively unexplored epoch in our universe and a distant beacon from which the intervening universe can be studied.

Expert advice (LOL)

2009-04-29T13:06:00.004+02:00

Click on image to read.